Director dealings: Restaurant Group director buying offers little support

Restaurant Group director Mike Tye followed his chairwoman's recent purchase and picked up his first shares in the beleaguered owner of the Frankie & Benny's and Garfunkels chains, though both deals are already well under water.

Non-executive Tye bought 7,284 shares in the company at a price of 409.76p on Tuesday, costing him around £30,000.

This followed chair Debbie Hewitt's acquisition of 17,325 shares last week at a price of 432.90p.

Investors seemed less keen to follow the pair's example than analysts at Citi, which downgraded the stock to ‘sell’ from ‘neutral’ and cut the price target to 320p from 350p.

Citi said that while there may be valuation support on a sum-of-the-parts basis, the company still faces significant trading headwinds.

“Whilst we think recent management appointments of a new CFO and CEO are positive steps in the group’s rehabilitation, we suggest there could be further store closures and exceptional costs as new management looks to revitalise the leisure operations.”

Shares in RTN were down almost 7% by mid afternoon on Wednesday to 368.9p.

Top Director Buys

Aviva (AV.)
Director name: Stoddard,Tom
Amount purchased: 51,527 @ 509.00p
Value: £262,272.44

Restaurant Group (RTN)
Director name: Tye,Michael
Amount purchased: 7,284 @ 409.76p
Value: £29,846.92

Air Partner (AIR)
Director name: Saunders,Peter
Amount purchased: 5,000 @ 456.00p
Value: £22,800.00

Macfarlane Group (MACF)
Director name: Love,John
Amount purchased: 25,000 @ 61.00p
Value: £15,250.00

Iomart Group (IOM)
Director name: Logan,Richard
Amount purchased: 4,000 @ 306.00p
Value: £12,240.00

Macfarlane Group (MACF)
Director name: Paterson,Stuart R
Amount purchased: 20,000 @ 60.36p
Value: £12,072.00

Air Partner (AIR)
Director name: Smith,Shaun M
Amount purchased: 2,327 @ 448.00p
Value: £10,424.96

Mortgage Advice Bureau (holdings) (MAB1)
Director name: Imlach,Nathan James McLean
Amount purchased: 405 @ 336.00p
Value: £1,360.80

Mortgage Advice Bureau (holdings) (MAB1)
Director name: Verdin ,Richard
Amount purchased: 352 @ 336.00p
Value: £1,182.72

3i Group (III)
Director name: Wilson,Julia
Amount purchased: 24 @ 615.00p
Value: £147.60

Top Director Sells

Spire Healthcare Group (SPI)
Director name: Gordon,Simon
Amount sold: 92,174 @ 350.40p
Value: £322,977.69

Aviva (AV.)
Director name: Stoddard,Tom
Amount sold: 24,304 @ 418.21p
Value: £101,641.75

Henderson Diversified Income Ltd. (HDIV)
Director name: Manduca,Paul V F S
Amount sold: 50,000 @ 94.50p
Value: £47,250.00

Iomart Group (IOM)
Director name: Haran,Sarah
Amount sold: 6,000 @ 306.00p
Value: £18,360.00

Iomart Group (IOM)
Director name: Haran,Sarah
Amount sold: 3,000 @ 300.00p
Value: £9,000.00

Iomart Group (IOM)
Director name: Haran,Sarah
Amount sold: 3,000 @ 295.00p
Value: £8,850.00

Iomart Group (IOM)
Director name: Logan,Richard
Amount sold: 2,000 @ 310.00p
Value: £6,200.00

Iomart Group (IOM)
Director name: Logan,Richard
Amount sold: 2,000 @ 310.00p
Value: £6,200.00