Companies: ABC    CCI    EDD    HSP    MUR    NBT    NEB   

Brown invested just over £230,000 in total and now owns 3.2 per cent of Canaccord, in which three other directors bought shares last month. Tim Hoare acquired 25,000 shares at 457p, taking his stake to two per cent, and chief executive Paul Reynolds bought 25,000 at 451p, giving him 2.58 per cent, with Dr Michael Walker buying 8,097 shares at around 490p.

Canaccord is dual listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, where all the purchases were made. Disappointingly, the shares have halved in less than six months. Third-quarter figures showed a fall of 37 per cent in net income to C$15 million (£7.3 million), following which Reynolds says, ‘We are definitely cautious in our current outlook for the near term.’

Meanwhile, Murgitroyd founder Ian Murgitroyd has acquired 83,000 shares in the patent lawyer and adviser over the past month. There were three separate purchases, all at 350p, compared with a current price of 365p. Murgitroyd recently acquired Kennedys Patent Agency for £3.4 million in a canny deal adding new corporate clients to the group, while yielding cost savings from closing Kennedys’ Glasgow and Aberdeen offices.

EDI upgraded
Richard Price, one of the founders of BPP, has bought 200,000 shares at 42.5p in Education Development International, taking his stake to 1.2 per cent. Price is chairman of EDI, which provides a range of services to the educational sector and is earning full marks from analysts. Broker Brewin Dolphin recently upgraded its forecasts for EDI for the fourth time in just over six months and now forecasts £2.9 million of profit for the year to September 2008.

Elsewhere, the founders of Abcam took advantage of a good set of figures to cash in part of their stakes. Chief executive Dr Jonathan Milner sold one million shares and chairman Dr David Cleevely sold 500,000. Milner retains just under 23 per cent of the antibodies distributor, while Cleevely holds an 11.9 per cent stake.

Meanwhile managing director Jim Warwick sold 30,000 shares, trimming his interest to 2.39 per cent. All the shares were sold at 345p a share in order to satisfy institutional demand. Abcam, floated in November 2005 at 167p, fallen back to 335p since the share sales.

Abcam had just reported strong interims showing sales 38 per cent ahead at £15.3 million, profits up 19 per cent at £3 million and bumper cash balances of £11.6 million. The roll-out of Abcam’s own manufactured antibodies has been slower than hoped but longer-term margins will be higher. Earnings per share are expected to rise from 11.7p to 12.7p in the year to June 2008, with a much larger jump to 18.3p forecast next year.

What’s in a name
Group NBT non-executive director Keith Young raised £500,000 when he sold shares in the hosting and domain names company for 200p each. This leaves him with a 6.36 per cent stake. In October, he acquired 11,000 shares at 226p a share so the sale at a lower price may appear surprising. However, in recent months he has invested £500,000 in internet and software company Netb2b2, where he is chairman, in two tranches.

As for Group NBT, this AIM star reported interim figures to December the week before Young sold his shares. Higher-margin corporate domain names and brand protection accounted for nearly half of revenues in the six-month period, while organic revenue growth was strong at 17 per cent. Acquisitions accounted for the rest of the 98 per cent sales rise to £16.5 million and earnings per share rose by five per cent to 7.04p. On the strength of the numbers, broker Numis increased its full-year earnings forecast to 13.7p.

Lastly, Kevin Dougan, contracts director of Hargreaves Services, sold one-quarter of his stake in the coal, transport and support services business. The disposal of shares at 500p each raised £875,000 and leaves him with 525,000 – two per cent of the company. Hargreaves reported a rise in underlying profits from £4.4 million to £7.1 million in the six months to November.

Save 50% off your first year’s subscription to Growth Company Investor magazine, and gain immediate access to all the recommendations online. Click here.