Director dealings: RBS directors snap up GBP1m of shares

Royal Bank of Scotland's chairman, chief executive and finance director have together spent £1m buying shares as the state-owned bank hit its lowest levels for three and a half years.

CEO Ross McEwan bought 200,000 at 223p for £446,000, with CFO Ewen Stevenson buying the same number at 223.2p, costing him an extra £400, while chairman Howard Davies spent £88,840 on 40,000 shares.

On Friday, shares in the bank sank below 220p after the posting of the bank's eighth consecutive year of losses, with the prospects of any dividend payouts also pushed back from the first quarter of 2017, a delay compared to previous guidance.

Although the loss before tax was narrower than the previous year, it was 15% below consensus forecasts due to weak revenues that were only partly offset by lower costs and lower impairments.

The day before the results were posted, McEwan said he will hand back £1m of his annual pay package, a “role-based” shares incentive, which tops up his regular salary. He is still expected to be paid £2.7m despite turning down the award.

Earlier in the month RBS said it would slightly reduce its total bonus payments for the year to £480m.

Top Director Buys

Royal Bank Of Scotland Group (RBS)
Director name: Stevenson,Ewen
Amount purchased: 200,000 @ 223.20p
Value: £446,400.02

Royal Bank Of Scotland Group (RBS)
Director name: McEwan ,Ross
Amount purchased: 200,000 @ 223.00p
Value: £446,000.00

Spirent Communications (SPT)
Director name: Hutchinson,Eric G
Amount purchased: 297,464 @ 83.60p
Value: £248,679.91

Tristel (TSTL)
Director name: Soler,Francisco Angel
Amount purchased: 112,038 @ 114.70p
Value: £128,507.58

Foreign And Colonial Inv Trust (FRCL)
Director name: Moakes,Nicholas
Amount purchased: 30,000 @ 427.33p
Value: £128,199.01

Royal Bank Of Scotland Group (RBS)
Director name: Davies,Howard
Amount purchased: 40,000 @ 222.10p
Value: £88,840.00

Spirent Communications (SPT)
Director name: Maxwell,Tom
Amount purchased: 60,000 @ 84.01p
Value: £50,403.96

Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY)
Director name: Prettejohn,Nick
Amount purchased: 69,280 @ 72.17p
Value: £49,999.38

Spirent Communications (SPT)
Director name: Hutchinson,Eric G
Amount purchased: 58,787 @ 84.50p
Value: £49,675.02

Pearson (PSON)
Director name: Williams,Coram
Amount purchased: 5,000 @ 836.00p
Value: £41,800.00

Sthree (STHR)
Director name: Fahy,Anne
Amount purchased: 4,000 @ 305.00p
Value: £12,200.00

William Hill (WMH)
Director name: Gardner,Roy A
Amount purchased: 2,600 @ 399.00p
Value: £10,373.91

Aberdeen Japan Investment Trust (AJIT)
Director name: Brade ,Karen
Amount purchased: 1,383 @ 422.00p
Value: £5,836.26

Oxford Biomedica (OXB)
Director name: Diggle ,Martin
Amount purchased: 29,345 @ 6.63p
Value: £1,945.19

Albion Enterprise Vct (AAEV)
Director name: Reeve,Patrick
Amount purchased: 1,749 @ 95.71p
Value: £1,673.97

Aberdeen Japan Investment Trust (AJIT)
Director name: Brade ,Karen
Amount purchased: 117 @ 424.90p
Value: £497.13

Top Director Sells

Aberdeen Japan Investment Trust (AJIT)
Director name: Brade ,Karen
Amount purchased: 1,400 @ 420.00p
Value: £5,880.00