BHP Billiton Baroness stocks up

Baroness Shriti Vadera, a Non-Executive Director of BHP Billiton, the FTSE 100 multi-metal mining giant, has dug up 4,000 shares to add to her existing pile of 5,000.

Ugandan-born Vadera, who joined the firm in her first UK non-executive role on 2010, bought the shares at 2,079.00p each for a total of £83,160.

The former banker spent eight years as a Treasury advisor and was a close pal of former Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

Subscribe to MoneyWeek

Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE

Get 6 issues free

Sign up to Money Morning

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Sign up

In its most recent set of results, unveiled on February 8th, BHP revealed its underlying pre-tax earnings were ahead of expectations while the bottom line number was shy of what the market had been anticipating.

The market had been expecting underlying earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) of $15.5bn for the six months to the end of 2011, but BHP topped that with $15.69bn, a 5.8% increase on the $14.83bn achieved the year before.

Basic earnings per share eased 1.3% to $186.8m from $189.2m at the interim stage the year before.

Top Director Buys

BHP Billiton (BLT)

Director name: Baroness Shriti Vadera

Amount purchased: 4,000 @ 2,079.00p

Value: £83,160

Jarvis Securities (JIM)

Director name: Mr Andrew J Grant

Amount purchased: 14,000 @ 168.00p

Value: £23,520

Top Director Sells

News Corp. 'A' Shares (NCRA)

Director name: Mr David DeVoe

Amount sold: 62,500 @ $19.60

Value: $1,225,000

Fidessa Group (FDSA)

Director name: Mr Andy Malpass

Amount sold: 3,132 @ 1,739.00p

Value: £54,465