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With London's markets in retreat, it was unsurprising to see many independent punters and institutions off-loading sizeable holdings during June. They were joined by a steady stream of directors who relinquished stock. However, in a refreshing change to the general trend, many company bosses demonstrated a degree of confidence in their business' prospects by delving into the market to fill their boots.

Aim-listed security systems business Protec enjoyed attention, with non-executive Francesca Welbore-Ker kicking things off by snapping up 14.2 million shares at 3p. She obviously spies potential in the business, which made a £20,000 surplus on £8.6 million sales in the half-year to December. Welbore-Ker now has a 12.32 per cent stake in the Watford-headquartered firm.

Chairman Philip Parker also stepped in, taking 500,000 shares at 3.25p. They are now changing hands for 3.75p.

Elsewhere on Aim, it emerged that directors had picked up 1.28 million of the 10.5 million shares recently placed by Tecteon, which is developing digital signal processing software for the telecoms market. Chairman Masoud Alikhani claimed 513,780, while technology director Dr Masoud Ahmadi bought 520,000 – all at 7p. The price has since fallen to 6.75p.

Showing some faith in the murky waters of the media sector was John Llewellyn Lloyd, a non-executive at intellectual property rights firm Chorion. Despite Lloyd buying 300,000 shares at 8.25p, the price reversed to 6.75p.

Fully-listed, south London-based printing group Fulmar may be depressed, but chief executive Mike Taylor showed investors what he thinks of the business by acquiring 70,000 shares at 61p. He then took another 15,000 at 63p. This pushed the price up to 69p, against 52-week peaks and troughs of 80.5p and 47.5p, respectively.

One notable first-time buyer on the battered index was Terry Lazenby, a non-executive director at MTL Instruments. He now has 0.05 per cent of the shares in the flagging company, after buying 10,000 at 183p.

Sellers abound

Significant selling on techMARK was inevitable. AVEVA chief executive Richard Longdon sold 250,000 shares for £1.1 million on the 11 June. He retains 528,000 shares in the engineering IT systems specialist, with his holding now worth £2.1 million on paper at 399p a share.

Formerly known as Cadcentre, the company has withstood the downturn well, reporting £4.9 million pre-tax profits for the year to March on a 13 per cent sales hike to £31.8 million. Analysts expect it to go from strength to strength, with up to £7 million profits pencilled in for the current year.

Adding to the wave of selling was Michael Durcan, an executive director at Irish drug distributor United Drug. He dumped 45,000 shares at €14.9 (£9.57), and the shares have subsequently eased to €14.53 (£9.32). Durcan was quite simply banking some profits, as the shares had risen from a 52-week low of £6 following a good set of figures for the six months to March. Profits before tax and goodwill rose 20 per cent to €12.97 million, while sales surged 16 per cent to €569 million.

Selling was also in evidence at small cap holiday provider Holidaybreak – another play that has recently cheered followers with its first-half figures.

Among a whole host of activity, with some directors exercising their options for profit, executives Mark Wray and James Crew sold 35,000 and 30,000 shares for 537p apiece. However, the signs are that the business is doing well. May's interim numbers showed improved turnover of £44.1 million (£37.2 million) and narrower pre-tax losses of £6.7 million (£7.5 million deficit).

Finally, in the support services sector, finance director John Cumming off-loaded 69,600 shares in depressed Brammar at £1.83 a share. Cumming will resign from the board in July and take early retirement. Perhaps he felt it was time to cash in, because the shares have endured a dire time of late, crashing from £4.50 to a 52-week low of £1.70.