Director dealings: RSA's Hester shows confidence in turnaround

RSA Insurance chief executive Stephen Hester bought almost £0.5m worth of shares in the company just after first quarter results from the company showed his turnaround plan appeared to be working.

Hester, who joined the insurer just over two years ago after a post-crash stint at Royal Bank of Scotland, snapped up 100,000 RSA shares at a price of 479.85p apiece.

RSA’s shares were up 2% to 479p not long before the close of trading on Thursday, having topped 480p for much of the day.

When Hester arrived in February 2014, RSA was still reeling from the resignation of previous CEO Simon Lee, who fell on his sword as part of a management clear-out when "financial and claims irregularities" had been unearthed at its Irish division.

Prior to that scandal, the shares had been trading above 600p.

On Thursday morning, RSA delivered a good first-quarter underwriting performance, with benign weather conditions and the benefit from cost reduction initiatives leading to strong growth in operating profits.

The insurance market conditions were said to be are broadly unchanged from 2015, with intense competition continuing to put pressure on pricing.

Analyst Charlie Huggins at Hargreaves Lansdown said: “Hester's turnaround plan at RSA appears to be working. The balance sheet has been painstakingly restored, £180m of cost savings have already been delivered, with more to come. Following the sale of the Latin American business, the asset disposal programme is largely complete, meaning RSA is now a much more focused operation.

"The dividend has proved about as reliable as an English summer historically, but now looks more secure, given RSA's much stronger balance sheet position. These self-help measures have enabled RSA to overcome a very challenging operating environment.”

Elsewhere, Capital & Regional non-executive director Louis Norval, former boss of the Attfund South Africa private property investment giant, stumped up £1.8m of shares in the UK shopping centre investor.

Following the purchases, Norval's Mstead vehicle now owns 70m shares or 9.99% of the REIT's shares. Mstead is part of Homestead Group.

Combined with his other holdings this means Norval has a beneficial interest in 132m shares and a total shareholding of all parties connected to him of 170.5m, or 24.32% of the company.

Wessel Hamman, another non-executive director of the company is also a non-executive director of Homestead Group Holdings, the parent company of Mstead, but he has no beneficial interest in the shares held by Mstead, the company added.

Top Director Buys

Capital & Regional (CAL)
Director name: Norval ,Louis
Amount purchased: 2,857,792 @ 63.82p
Value: £1,823,842.81

Rsa Insurance Group (RSA)
Director name: Hester,Stephen
Amount purchased: 100,000 @ 479.85p
Value: £479,850.01

Cathay International Holdings Ltd. (CTI)
Director name: Tao ,Wu Zhen
Amount purchased: 306,000 @ 18.00p
Value: £55,080.00

Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY)
Director name: Blackwell,Lord
Amount purchased: 50,000 @ 64.89p
Value: £32,445.00

Alliance Pharma (APH)
Director name: Cook,David
Amount purchased: 54,492 @ 46.54p
Value: £25,360.58

Alliance Pharma (APH)
Director name: Cook,David
Amount purchased: 47,879 @ 46.52p
Value: £22,273.31

Thalassa Holdings Ltd. (di) (THAL)
Director name: Soukup,Charles Duncan
Amount purchased: 25,000 @ 44.00p
Value: £11,000.00

Havelock Europa (HVE)
Director name: Balfour,Hew
Amount purchased: 70,000 @ 13.88p
Value: £9,712.50

Oxford Biomedica (OXB)
Director name: Diggle ,Martin
Amount purchased: 44,689 @ 5.70p
Value: £2,547.27

Prophotonix (di) (PPIX)
Director name: Losik,Tim
Amount purchased: 54,992 @ $0.04
Value: $1,554.98

Hammerson (HMSO)
Director name: Drakesmith,Timon
Amount purchased: 26 @ 578.50p
Value: £150.41

Premier Oil (PMO)
Director name: Hawkings,Neil
Amount purchased: 217 @ 69.25p
Value: £150.27

Premier Oil (PMO)
Director name: Rose ,Richard
Amount purchased: 216 @ 69.25p
Value: £149.58

Lsl Property Services (LSL)
Director name: Gill,Adrian
Amount purchased: 50 @ 298.00p
Value: £149.00

Lsl Property Services (LSL)
Director name: Crabb,Ian
Amount purchased: 50 @ 298.00p
Value: £149.00

Premier Oil (PMO)
Director name: Durrant ,Tony
Amount purchased: 181 @ 69.25p
Value: £125.34

Premier Oil (PMO)
Director name: Allan,Robin
Amount purchased: 180 @ 69.25p
Value: £124.65

Top Director Sells

Petra Diamonds Ltd.(di) (PDL)
Director name: Abery,David
Amount purchased: 250,000 @ 113.00p
Value: £282,500.00

Petra Diamonds Ltd.(di) (PDL)
Director name: Dippenaar,Johan
Amount purchased: 250,000 @ 113.00p
Value: £282,500.00

Petra Diamonds Ltd.(di) (PDL)
Director name: Davidson,Jim
Amount purchased: 250,000 @ 113.00p
Value: £282,500.00

Petra Diamonds Ltd.(di) (PDL)
Director name: Pouroulis,Adonis
Amount purchased: 250,000 @ 113.00p
Value: £282,500.00

Crh (CRH)
Director name: Colgan,Neil
Amount purchased: 5,580 @ € 24.68
Value: € 111,890.15

Crh (CRH)
Director name: Colgan,Neil
Amount purchased: 3,750 @ € 24.69
Value: € 75,240.70