Neil Carson, Chief Executive Officer of Johnson Matthey, the chemicals giant, has disposed of £659,232-worth of shares in the firm two weeks after it reported a 22% rise in sales during the final quarter of 2011.
Carson, who has been with the firm for three decades, sold 28,901 executive share options at 2,281.00p each. The options, which were bought for 865p per share in 2002, were due to expire in July of this year.
During the quarter, profits increased 34% to £104.3m on revenues of £649m. Despite the good results the firm warned that its Precious Metals division could be adversely affected by the ongoing low price of platinum.
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The firm was able to reduce its net debt by £175m to £442m, although this was partly driven by a decrease in the amount of working capital needed as a result of the drop in platinum prices.
The firm's shares have climbed over 16% over the past year, and are up almost 15% this month.
Top Director Buys
QinetiQ Group (QQ.)
Director name: Mr Michael Harper
Amount purchased: 10,000 @ 144.20p
Value: £14,420
Top Director Sells
Johnson Matthey (JMAT)
Director name: Mr Neil A P Carson
Amount sold: 28,901 @ 2,281.00p
Value: £659,232
SThree (STHR)
Director name: Mr Gary Elden
Amount sold: 195,105 @ 279.32p
Value: £544,967
SThree (STHR)
Director name: Mr Russell Clements
Amount sold: 148,298 @ 279.32p
Value: £414,226
SThree (STHR)
Director name: Mr Alex Smith
Amount sold: 110,124 @ 279.32p
Value: £307,598
Atkins (WS) (ATK)
Director name: Mr Alun Hughes Griffiths
Amount sold: 13,200 @ 768.50p
Value: £101,442
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