Directors dealings: Balfour Beatty chief buys into restructuring story

Stock in Balfour Beatty got a boost after the company reported that chief Leo Quinn had picked up a hefty number of shares.

A little over a year after taking the helm of the infrastructure group, on 22 April Quinn purchased 218,500 shares at an individual price of 226.8733p, for a grand total of £495,718.17, the company said in a statement on Tuesday.

On 15 February, the FTSE 250-listed outfit reported a 2.4% drop in full-year revenues to £8,235m, down 6% at constant exchange rates, leading to a £123m loss before tax versus £80m of red ink one year ago.

In a research report sent to clients on 17 March, analysts at Charles Stanley labelled the company a "classic turnaround opportunity".

Quinn, who took up his post on 1 January 2015, in the wake of five consecutive profit warnings, was at the head of a new team with a good track record on turnarounds, including at outfits such as De La Rue and Qinetiq, the broker explained.

Balfour Beatty´s Infrastructure Investments protfolio of £1.2bn meant the firm was financially strong, it said.

The first phase of its 'Build to Last' restructuring programme was also set to complete by end-2016, Charles Stanley added.

"The 2015 results were a little worse than expected, but with most or all of this due t o legacy contracts. Meanwhile cash generation was good, as already known, and the quality of the order book is improving," analyst Tom Gidley-Kitchin said in that same research note.

However, while he deemed the equity story to be an attractive one, in his opinion the share price was already discounting some recovery in margins, which was still set to take up to three years to achieve.

Following last Friday´s transaction, Quinn was left holding a 0.055% stake in the firm.

As of 15:10 BST the share price was higher by 3.8p to 233.5p.

Top Director Buys

Balfour Beatty (BBY)
Director name: Quinn,Leo
Amount purchased: 218,500 @ 226.87p
Value: £495,718.17

Capital & Regional (CAL)
Director name: Scott-Barrett,Hugh
Amount purchased: 200,000 @ 65.00p
Value: £130,000.00

Greatland Gold (GGP)
Director name: Johnson,Paul
Amount purchased: 10,000,000 @ 0.18p
Value: £17,500.00

Tristel (TSTL)
Director name: Swinney,Paul Christopher
Amount purchased: 5,000 @ 114.70p
Value: £5,735.00

Greatland Gold (GGP)
Director name: Johnson,Paul
Amount purchased: 2,260,031 @ 0.24p
Value: £5,424.07

Spirent Communications (SPT)
Director name: Hutchinson,Eric G
Amount purchased: 306 @ 82.00p
Value: £250.92

Spirent Communications (SPT)
Director name: Whiting,Rachel
Amount purchased: 153 @ 82.00p
Value: £125.46

Top Director Sells

Capital & Regional (CAL)
Director name: Scott-Barrett,Hugh
Amount purchased: 150,000 @ 64.00p
Value: £96,000.00