Johnson Matthey CEO ditches nearly 29,000 shares

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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