Director dealings: Genus announces new CEO's compensation, AstraZeneca chair spends £0.23m

Livestock genetics company Genus saw its shares weaken on Tuesday afternoon after it announced the agreed reward arrangements for its incoming CEO, Jorgen Kokke.

Under the shareholder-approved remuneration policy, Kokke would receive a basic annual salary of $825,000, along with a pension contribution worth 6% of his salary.

Additionally, he would receive payments of £4m, mostly in Genus share awards, as compensation for incentives he held at his previous company, Ingredion.

He would also be eligible for an annual bonus of up to 200% of his salary, with one-third of any bonus paid deferred into shares, and a long-term incentive award of 400% of his salary in September, subject to performance targets and a two-year holding period.

At 1301 BST, shares in Genus were down 0.22% at 2,682p.

K3 Business Technology Group, meanwhile, was in the red after Kestrel Partners acquired 76,564 ordinary shares at an average price of £1.10 per share on 21 April.

Kestrel is indirectly holding voting rights over 26.4% of the company's issued share capital.

On 28 April, Kestrel acquired an additional 2,027 shares at an average price of £1.10 apiece, increasing its indirect voting rights to 26.41% of the company's issued share capital.

K3 said non-executive director Oliver Scott is a partner of Kestrel, and holds a beneficial interest in one of Kestrel's clients, which was deemed to have a beneficial interest in Kestrel's entire legal holding in the company.

At 1052 BST, shares in K3 Business Technology Group were down 2.22% at 110p.

Pharmaceuticals giant AstraZeneca was also in focus after its non-executive chair Michel Demaré purchased 2,000 of its ordinary shares on 28 April, at a price of £117.01 per share, for a total value of £234,020.

At 1307 BST, shares in AstraZeneca were down 0.14% at 11,730p.

Finally, ix Net Zero, an investing company focusing on energy transition and sustainability in the built environment, saw its shares slide despite one of its non-executive directors, Patricia McCall, buying 20,000 shares on 28 April.

McCall paid 13p per share, for a total value of £2,600.

Following this purchase, McCall owned 63,139 ordinary shares, representing 0.1% of the company's shares in issue.

At 1231 BST, shares in ix Net Zero were down 10.42% at 16.12p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.