Director dealings: N Brown's Spindler buys after results weigh on shares

Showing her confidence in underlying trading, N Brown chief executive Angela Spindler took advantage of the market's conservative view of the specialist-fit clothing retailer's results statement earlier in the week.

Spindler trousered almost £50,000-worth of shares in the FTSE 250 group at a price of 270.9p, the day after the final results has sent them ripping down from just under 320p.

While the 2015 numbers showed Spindler had made a very encouraging start in her turnaround of a dowdy clothing seller to a digital-focused operator, breathing life into some of its more brands and looking to make a move over the Atlantic.

Benefits of the turnaround looked to be coming through in the second half of the year when there was 11% profit growth, which enabled the group to generate underlying pre-tax profit of £84.5m, a decline of just 2.0% on the previous year and in line with consensus City forecasts on sales that were up 3.5%.

The reason the market turned on the shares was a warning of currency headwinds in 2016 and a slowdown endured since the year end due to a challenging industry backdrop and the company's new marketing approach of shifting from large TV ad campaigns to a more steadily increasing investment in online and mobile.

"Looking forward, whilst we face challenging market conditions for the fashion sector overall, and trading since the year end has been subdued, we remain confident in our ability to make further progress this year," Spindler said, adding that the company was midway through its turnaround.

Top Director Buys

Mporium Group (MPM)
Director name: Moat,Barry Christopher
Amount purchased: 623,125 @ 8.00p
Value: £49,850.00

Brown (n.) Group (BWNG)
Director name: Spindler,Angela
Amount purchased: 18,000 @ 270.90p
Value: £48,762.00

Micro Focus International (MCRO)
Director name: Loosemore,Kevin
Amount purchased: 1,927 @ 1,557.38p
Value: £30,010.71

Dunelm Group (DNLM)
Director name: Down,Keith
Amount purchased: 3,246 @ 915.00p
Value: £29,700.90

Mporium Group (MPM)
Director name: Casey,Aidan
Amount purchased: 311,562 @ 8.00p
Value: £24,924.96

Tyratech Inc. (di / Regs) (TYR)
Director name: Hills,James (Jim)
Amount purchased: 250,000 @ 5.00p
Value: £12,500.00

Mporium Group (MPM)
Director name: Gordon,Richard
Amount purchased: 99,702 @ 8.00p
Value: £7,976.16

Tyratech Inc. (di / Regs) (TYR)
Director name: Hills,James (Jim)
Amount purchased: 100,000 @ 4.50p
Value: £4,500.00

Magnolia Petroleum (MAGP)
Director name: Otis Snead,Steven
Amount purchased: 1,500,000 @ 0.20p
Value: £3,000.00

Magnolia Petroleum (MAGP)
Director name: Sanford Harwood,Ronald
Amount purchased: 1,500,000 @ 0.20p
Value: £3,000.00

Magnolia Petroleum (MAGP)
Director name: Fern Whittington,Rita
Amount purchased: 1,500,000 @ 0.20p
Value: £3,000.00

Tyratech Inc. (di / Regs) (TYR)
Director name: Hills,James (Jim)
Amount purchased: 50,000 @ 4.25p
Value: £2,125.00

Top Director Sells

Legal & General Group (LGEN)
Director name: Wilson,Nigel
Amount purchased: 77,583 @ 239.10p
Value: £185,500.96

Legal & General Group (LGEN)
Director name: Gregory,Mark
Amount purchased: 49,326 @ 239.10p
Value: £117,938.47

Micro Focus International (MCRO)
Director name: Loosemore,Kevin
Amount purchased: 979 @ 1,558.26p
Value: £15,255.37