DS Smith non-exec tops up his stake

Chairman of the Audit Committee at DS Smith, Jonathan Nicholls, has bought £74,366-worth of shares in the recycled packaging firm.

The purchase, which saw the non-executive buy 32,309 shares at 230.17p each, comes less than two weeks after the firm launched an agreed bid for the second largest packaging business in Europe.

The firm will pay €1.6bn (£1.3bn) for SCA Packaging, a Swedish company.

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The purchase will be funded from new and existing debt as well as an underwritten £466m rights issue.

Earlier in the month the company announced it is set to receive a tidy sum as a result of its 49.6% interest in Rubezhansk, the leading paper and packaging business in the Ukraine.

Rubezhansk has completed the signing of a revised five-year loan agreement with its existing lender group and as a result DS Smith will now be recognising its share of the profits and investment in this associate business, in the second half of this financial year.

The stock has gained close to 10% over the year, although has dipped over 1% in the past week.

Top Director Buys

Immunodiagnostic Systems Holdings (IDH)

Director name: Dr Burkhard Wittek

Amount purchased: 43,867 @ 304.66p

Value: £133,645

PureCircle Ltd. (DI) (PURE)

Director name: Mr Olivier Maes

Amount purchased: 100,000 @ 90.00p

Value: £90,000

DS Smith (SMDS)

Director name: Mr Jonathan C Nicholls

Amount purchased: 32,309 @ 230.17p

Value: £74,366

Graphite Enterprise Trust (GPE)

Director name: Mr Jeremy Tigue

Amount purchased: 14,186 @ 350.00p

Value: £49,651

Assura Group Ltd. (AGR)

Director name: Mr David H Richardson

Amount purchased: 167,805 @ 29.50p

Value: £49,502

Telecom Plus (TEP)

Director name: Mr Julian Schild

Amount purchased: 5,000 @ 656.00p

Value: £32,800

Sierra Rutile Ltd (SRX)

Director name: Mr Jan Alex Castro

Amount purchased: 50,000 @ 64.75p

Value: £32,375

Immunodiagnostic Systems Holdings (IDH)

Director name: Mr Paul Hailes

Amount purchased: 6,500 @ 309.00p

Value: £20,085

Immunodiagnostic Systems Holdings (IDH)

Director name: Mr Roger Duggan

Amount purchased: 6,300 @ 308.57p

Value: £19,440

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