Another director dealing for Dunelm; AZ Electronic tech officer makes sale

Donna Wharton, wife of Nick Wharton, the Chief Executive of homewares firm Dunelm, has topped up her stake in the company with 9,500 shares.

Wharton's purchase, which saw her buy the shares at 480.00p each for a total of £45,600, came just a day after Will Adderley, Executive Deputy Chairman, announced plans to cash in a big chunk of his shares in the bedding and curtains retailer.

Adderley, who is also the son of the founder of the company, and his wife Nadine, are offloading around 5m shares, representing about 2.5% of the issued share capital of Dunelm. The disposal will still leave the Adderley family holding around 56.2% of all the shares in issue, with Will Adderley's personal stake standing at 32.4%.

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It's been a busy week for the firm, with newly appointed director Matt Davies underlining his loyalty to the firm with the purchase of 4,500 shares, which he bought on Tuesday 6th at 499p each for a total of £22,455. Davies joined the firm after resigning from his job as head of animal products retailer Pets at Home, a position he held since 2004.

Last month the firm reported a 7.8% rise in pre-tax profit for the half year ended December 31st. As expected, profits for the year came in at £52.2m, compared to £48.4m for the same period of the previous year, on revenues of £299.9m, which is up 8.8% compared to the year before (2010: £275.7m).

In other news, AZ Electonic Materials's Chief Technology Officer, Ralph Dammel, sold 40,000 shares at 284.70p each, taking his total holding to 280,000 shares for £11,388.

The company, which produces speciality chemical materials to technological manufacturers, recently reported a rise in revenues, EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) and returned to the black with profits of $125m, despite a challenging economic environment.

Revenues grew from $682.1 to $791.8m, while a loss of $90.6m in 2010 turned to a profit of $125.6m in 2011. EBITDA leapt 16% to $261m (2010: $225.6m), however the EBITDA margin lost 0.1 percentage points to 33.0%.

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Serco Group (SRP)

Director name: Mr Christopher R Hyman

Amount purchased: 40,738 @ 515.34p

Value: £209,939

Serco Group (SRP)

Director name: Mr Andrew Jenner

Amount purchased: 20,737 @ 515.34p

Value: £106,866

Dunelm Group (DNLM)

Director name: Mr Nick Wharton

Amount purchased: 9,500 @ 480.00p

Value: £45,600

Oxford Biomedica (OXB)

Director name: Mr Tim Watts

Amount purchased: 1,000,000 @ 3.02p

Value: £30,200

Terrace Hill Group (THG)

Director name: Mr Philip Leech

Amount purchased: 250,000 @ 11.75p

Value: £29,375

Avanti Communications Group (AVN)

Director name: Mr David J Williams

Amount purchased: 10,000 @ 250.00p

Value: £25,000

Terrace Hill Group (THG)

Director name: Mr Jonathan Martin Austen

Amount purchased: 200,000 @ 12.25p

Value: £24,500

Taylor Wimpey (TW.)

Director name: Mr Mike Hussey

Amount purchased: 50,000 @ 48.23p

Value: £24,115

Maven Income & Growth 3 VCT (MIG3)

Director name: Mr Bill Nixon

Amount purchased: 15,606 @ 83.70p

Value: £13,062

Maven Income & Growth 2 VCT (MIG2)

Director name: Mr Bill Nixon

Amount purchased: 22,001 @ 59.37p

Value: £13,062

Top Director Sells

Serco Group (SRP)

Director name: Mr Christopher R Hyman

Amount sold: 92,689 @ 519.51p

Value: £481,529

Kerry Group 'A' Shares (KYGA)

Director name: Mr Gerry Behan

Amount sold: 13,800 @ €32.40

Value: €447,120

Kerry Group 'A' Shares (KYGA)

Director name: Mr Stan McCarthy

Amount sold: 11,279 @ €32.40

Value: €365,440

Serco Group (SRP)

Director name: Mr Andrew Jenner

Amount sold: 55,614 @ 519.51p

Value: £288,920

Filtrona PLC (FLTR)

Director name: Mr Jon Green

Amount sold: 48,301 @ 440.00p

Value: £212,524