Directors dealings: Capita boss tries to call a bottom

The chief of troubled outsourcer Capita picked up some stock in his company in the wake of its shares' recent spiral lower.

Boss Andy Parker bought 20,000 shares at an individual price of 475.5p for a total amount of £95,100 on 12 December, the company said in a statement.

On 8 December, the company announced a series of self-help measures even as it lowered its full-year guidance yet again.

Those measures included the sale of the majority of its Asset Services division and a small number of other 'non-core' businesses, as well as slashing 2,000 jobs in order to become leaner together with plans to reduce debt and focus fully on business process outsourcing.

Management said underlying profit before tax would fall to "at least £515m", down from its previously lowered range of £535-555m, adding that the headwinds affecting the business were expected to produce a similar trading performance in the full-year 2017.

In prescient fashion, two days beforehand Deutsche Bank analyst Tom Sykes told clients: "A continuation of the current strategy is unlikely to lead to upside for shareholders, in our view. We suspect that eventually more significant restructuring of the business may be required. Building a bottom up picture of the company from subsidiary accounts (detailed in this report) highlights the broad spread of profits but also the issue of contract accounting. Capita also has significant attrition headwinds in 18e onwards meaning the company needs to right itself quickly. Due to the risks we remain Hold."

According to technical analysts at Digital Look the nearest level of support was at 400p, the 50% Fibonacci retracement of the share price advance which began all the way back in 2002.

Top Director Buys

Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK)
Director name: Al-Husry,Ali
Amount purchased: 50,000 @ 1,723.00p
Value: £861,499.98

Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK)
Director name: Darwazah,Mazen
Amount purchased: 50,000 @ 1,723.00p
Value: £861,499.98

Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK)
Director name: Darwazah,Said
Amount purchased: 50,000 @ 1,723.00p
Value: £861,499.98

Riverstone Energy Limited (RSE)
Director name: Leuschen,David M
Amount purchased: 16,800 @ 1,293.91p
Value: £217,376.88

Riverstone Energy Limited (RSE)
Director name: Ryan,Ken
Amount purchased: 16,800 @ 1,293.91p
Value: £217,376.88

Riverstone Energy Limited (RSE)
Director name: Lapeyre Jr.,Pierre F
Amount purchased: 16,800 @ 1,293.91p
Value: £217,376.88

Riverstone Energy Limited (RSE)
Director name: Ryan,Ken
Amount purchased: 16,000 @ 1,298.79p
Value: £207,806.40

Riverstone Energy Limited (RSE)
Director name: Leuschen,David M
Amount purchased: 16,000 @ 1,298.79p
Value: £207,806.40

Riverstone Energy Limited (RSE)
Director name: Leuschen,David M
Amount purchased: 15,000 @ 1,294.99p
Value: £194,248.50

Riverstone Energy Limited (RSE)
Director name: Ryan,Ken
Amount purchased: 15,000 @ 1,294.99p
Value: £194,248.50

Capita (CPI)
Director name: Parker,Andy
Amount purchased: 20,000 @ 475.50p
Value: £95,100.00

Londonmetric Property (LMP)
Director name: Watson,Philip
Amount purchased: 50,000 @ 140.19p
Value: £70,095.00

Frontier Developments (FDEV)
Director name: Cotton,Charles
Amount purchased: 18,857 @ 210.00p
Value: £39,599.70

Cls Holdings (CLI)
Director name: Mortstedt,Philip
Amount purchased: 1,000 @ 1,556.57p
Value: £15,565.66

Diageo (DGE)
Director name: Humer,Franz B
Amount purchased: 405 @ 2,043.00p
Value: £8,274.15

Tritax Big Box Reit (BBOX)
Director name: Jewson,Richard W
Amount purchased: 4,750 @ 133.67p
Value: £6,349.32

Temple Bar Inv Trust (TMPL)
Director name: Reeve,John
Amount purchased: 40 @ 1,204.36p
Value: £481.74

Diageo (DGE)
Director name: Mikells,Kathryn
Amount purchased: 11 @ 2,043.00p
Value: £224.73

Qinetiq Group (QQ.)
Director name: Wadey ,Steve
Amount purchased: 81 @ 246.62p
Value: £199.76

Qinetiq Group (QQ.)
Director name: Mellors,David
Amount purchased: 80 @ 246.62p
Value: £197.30

British American Tobacco (BATS)
Director name: Abelman,Jerome
Amount purchased: 4 @ 4,342.89p
Value: £173.72

British American Tobacco (BATS)
Director name: Durante,Nicandro
Amount purchased: 4 @ 4,342.89p
Value: £173.72

British American Tobacco (BATS)
Director name: Sethi,Naresh
Amount purchased: 4 @ 4,342.89p
Value: £173.72

Taylor Wimpey (TW.)
Director name: Jordan,James J
Amount purchased: 98 @ 149.94p
Value: £146.94

Taylor Wimpey (TW.)
Director name: Redfern,Peter
Amount purchased: 98 @ 149.94p
Value: £146.94

Britvic (BVIC)
Director name: Litherland,Simon
Amount purchased: 26 @ 541.00p
Value: £140.66

British American Tobacco (BATS)
Director name: Marroco,Tadeu
Amount purchased: 3 @ 4,342.89p
Value: £130.29

British American Tobacco (BATS)
Director name: Giordano,Giovanni
Amount purchased: 3 @ 4,342.89p
Value: £130.29

British American Tobacco (BATS)
Director name: Vandermeulen,Johan
Amount purchased: 3 @ 4,342.89p
Value: £130.29

Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY)
Director name: Culmer,George
Amount purchased: 202 @ 61.91p
Value: £125.06

Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY)
Director name: Colombás ,Juan
Amount purchased: 202 @ 61.91p
Value: £125.06

Britvic (BVIC)
Director name: Barwell,Matt
Amount purchased: 22 @ 541.00p
Value: £119.02

Glaxosmithkline (GSK)
Director name: Whyte,Victoria
Amount purchased: 8 @ 1,477.77p
Value: £118.22

Glaxosmithkline (GSK)
Director name: Redfern,Dominic
Amount purchased: 8 @ 1,477.77p
Value: £118.22

Glaxosmithkline (GSK)
Director name: Witty,Sir Andrew P
Amount purchased: 8 @ 1,477.77p
Value: £118.22

Central Asia Metals (CAML)
Director name: Hurst-Brown,Nigel
Amount purchased: 215,000 @ n/a
Value: n/a

Top Director Sells

Gamma Communications (GAMA)
Director name: Stone,Andrew Jonathan
Amount sold: 13,500 @ 480.00p
Value: £64,800.00

Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ)
Director name: Varadi,Jozsef
Amount sold: 20 @ 1,875.00p
Value: £375.00

Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ)
Director name: Varadi,Jozsef
Amount sold: 20 @ 1,850.00p
Value: £370.00