Directors’ Dealings by Jenny Lowe

Leaf Clean Energy, which recently saw its plans to merge with carbon trader Trading Emissions fall through, saw its share price plummet from a high of 100p in November 2009 to 57.5p in February, although the price has since edged higher to 60.5p.

Non-executive directors Bran Keogh and Peter Tom spent £61,000 and £60,000 respectively on shares at around the current market price, along with their colleagues Peter O’Keefe and Curt Moffatt, who spent £9,750 and £30,000 respectively on shares priced at 65p and 61p.

Leaf Clean Energy’s net asset value at the end of 2009 was 158.23 US cents, equivalent to 105.7p per share, significantly north of the current price, despite the fact its investments are said to be performing ‘adequately against a difficult background’, with management confident that its portfolio will generate value. In a further plus, pre-tax losses for the six months to the end of December narrowed to $22.83 million versus $39.51 million in 2008.

‘The prospects for the environmental/clean energy market look considerably more positive than they did six months ago, as the underlying drivers – increasing focus on climate change and the environment more broadly, and energy security issues – remain strong,’ EEA Fund Management, the company’s asset adviser, recently remarked.

Buying on confidence
Over in the industrial engineering sector, Larry Horsch, non-executive director of AIM-quoted Somero Enterprises, picked up 128,000 shares at 15p each, dipping into the market not long after CEO Jack Cooney spent a sizeable £180,000 on 1.2 million shares.

In November, the North American manufacturer of patented laser-guided equipment used for the spreading and levelling of high volumes of concrete for floors, announced that it would not meet forecasts. Nevertheless, full-year results were broadly in line with downgraded expectations and the board has expressed confidence going into 2010, following a bout of restructuring.

At AIM-quoted sector peer Chamberlin, the foundry and engineering firm, CEO Tim Hair spent £15,300 on 30,000 shares at 51p each, a discount to the current 62.5p market price. Chamberlin experienced a volatile 2009 and saw sales slump 40 per cent in the first half-year to £14.2 million as customers ran down inventories. Encouragingly however, the company does believe that ‘demand has largely stabilised in most areas of the business, and some sectors appear to be showing signs of recovery’.

Over in the alternative energy space, things have been hotting up at Alkane Energy, which has just announced an increase in revenue to £6.3 million for 2009, with underlying pre-tax profits surging to £2.4 million (2008: £1.4 million).

With the business performing so strongly, CEO Neil O’Brien expressed his confidence in prospects by buying 65,000 shares in a transaction worth £12,187.

High stakes
But as well as a number of directors making large purchases, there has been an increasing number of high-stake sells. Over at AIM star-turn Abcam, CEO Jonathan Milner and managing director David Warwick opted to take some profits off the table, with share sales netting them £4.7 million and £3.52 million respectively.

And what a time to cash in, with sales in the second half of last year increasing by almost 40 per cent to £31.8 million and pre-tax profit surging 64 per cent to £11.2 million from £6.8 million, as Abcam increased its range of products.

Net cash at the end of the year had improved to £33 million from £20.9 million at the end of 2008, and the company has elected to hand a chunk of this over to shareholders with a doubling of the interim dividend to 5.42p.

Similarly, at another fast-growing, profitable AIM performer, the infection and contamination control business Tristel, CEO Paul Swinney sold 100,000 shares, earning him £56,500.