Directors dealings: Travis Perkins COO buys despite uncertainty

Travis Perkins's newly-appointed chief operating officer Tony Buffin picked up another handful of shares in the timber and builders' merchant.

The purchase followed his promotion to that post from his earlier role as group finance director on 20 September and came in the wake of the company's third quarter trading update.

Buffin bought 3,000 shares at an individual price of 1,402p on 19 October, for a total consideration of £42,050.37, the company said in a statement.

He was accompanied by Christopher Rogers, one of the firm's non-executive directors, who bought another £49,749.02 of stock.

On that same day, Travis Perkins said market conditions have worsened and that it had decided to close more than 40 sites and launch a cost-cutting programme.

The FTSE 100 group added that that while its consumer, contracts and general merchanting businesses had outperformed the market, with total sales growing 3.4% in the three-months to the end of September and like-for-like (LFL) growth of 2.0%, its full year profits were likely to disappoint.

That prompted Numis analysts Howard Seymour, Chris Millington and Christen Hjorth to tell clients that: "Travis Perkins Q3 is as expected, with the exception of weak trading in P&H and a wider announced reduction in branch numbers. We believe the speed of movement by management should be applauded, but clearly reflects an uncertain outlook which is likely to prevail at least until Q2 2017 in terms of both market outlook and the dynamics of price/cost inflation vs. gross margins."

In the same research note, Numis cut its target price on the stock from 1600p to 1545p.

Top Director Buys

Travis Perkins (TPK)
Director name: Walker,Robert M
Amount purchased: 10,378 @ 1,402.50p
Value: £145,551.45

Lombard Risk Management (LRM)
Director name: Brown ,Alastair
Amount purchased: 540,540 @ 9.25p
Value: £49,999.95

Travis Perkins (TPK)
Director name: Rogers ,Christopher
Amount purchased: 3,600 @ 1,381.92p
Value: £49,749.02

Travis Perkins (TPK)
Director name: Buffin ,Tony
Amount purchased: 3,000 @ 1,401.68p
Value: £42,050.37

U And I Group (UAI)
Director name: Weiner,Matthew
Amount purchased: 16,000 @ 159.75p
Value: £25,560.00

Schroder Asian Total Return Investment Company (ATR)
Director name: Keljik,Christopher A
Amount purchased: 8,000 @ 266.59p
Value: £21,327.20

Lombard Risk Management (LRM)
Director name: Gurney,Nigel
Amount purchased: 168,961 @ 9.00p
Value: £15,206.49

Johnson Matthey (JMAT)
Director name: Garner,Nicholas
Amount purchased: 12 @ 3,469.58p
Value: £416.35

Johnson Matthey (JMAT)
Director name: Walker,John
Amount purchased: 12 @ 3,469.58p
Value: £416.35

U And I Group (UAI)
Director name: Shepherd ,Marcus
Amount purchased: 20,000 @ 1.65p
Value: £329.16

Johnson Matthey (JMAT)
Director name: Garner,Nicholas
Amount purchased: 9 @ 3,469.58p
Value: £312.26

Johnson Matthey (JMAT)
Director name: Farrant,Simon
Amount purchased: 9 @ 3,469.58p
Value: £312.26

Pennon Group (PNN)
Director name: Loughlin,Christopher
Amount purchased: 18 @ 843.35p
Value: £151.80

Kingfisher (KGF)
Director name: Witts,Karen
Amount purchased: 42 @ 360.50p
Value: £151.41

Pennon Group (PNN)
Director name: Davy ,Susan
Amount purchased: 15 @ 843.35p
Value: £126.50

Top Director Sells

Damille Investments Ii Ltd (DIL2)
Director name: Davies,Rhys Cathan
Amount sold: 139,886 @ 118.30p
Value: £165,485.13

Travis Perkins (TPK)
Director name: Walker,Robert M
Amount sold: 10,378 @ 1,402.50p
Value: £145,551.45