Dragon's Den's Peter Jones puts up the money

published 15 August 2011

Dragon's Den entrepreneur and business tycoon Peter Jones has used some of the proceeds of his sale of one of his telecoms businesses, Wireless Logic, to buy more shares in the online consumer electronics business eXpansys He bought 35,634,200 shares at 2.42p. Jones, the non-executive deputy chairman of the group, spent £865,911 on the purchase, which brings his total holding to 481,374,917 shares. The 45-year old, who has helped developed a range of companies besides eXpansys, including Phones International and Reggae Reggae Sauce, began his foray into business at the age of 16, when he set up his own tennis coaching school. After a year of transition and change, Expansys recently moved back into the black at the full-year stage. Underlying profit before tax was £3.4m in the year to 30 April, versus a loss the year before of £0.2m.The company ended the financial year with cash of £5.1m, up significantly from last year's £0.9m. Recently, a number of other members of the eXpansys board purchased large quantites of shares in the company, with non-executive chairman Bob Wigley buying up 6.6m shares, while non-executive director Brian Collie bought almost 2m. Jones, who has appeared on Dragon's Den since 2005, sold Wireless Logic to UK mid-market private equity firm ECI Partners for £38m.Top Director BuyseXpansys (XPS) Director name: Mr Peter Jones CBEAmount purchased: 35,634,200 @ 2.42p Value: £865,911F&C Asset Management (FCAM) Director name: Mr Edward BramsonAmount purchased: 400,000 @ 65.19p Value: £260,760Avisen (AVI) Director name: Mr Claire MilvertonAmount purchased: 215,721 @ 53.75p Value: £115,950African Barrick Gold (ABG) Director name: Mr James CrossAmount purchased: 20,000 @ 532.91p Value: £106,582Chemring Group (CHG) Director name: Mr Peter HicksonAmount purchased: 20,000 @ 492.70p Value: £98,540Berkeley Mineral Resources (BMR) Director name: Mr Masoud AlikhaniAmount purchased: 3,300,000 @ 2.87p Value: £94,710Finsbury Growth & Income Trust (FGT) Director name: Mr Anthony TownsendAmount purchased: 12,604 @ 314.75p Value: £39,671Wolfson Microelectronics (WLF) Director name: Mr Glenn CollinsonAmount purchased: 19,850 @ 152.94p Value: £30,359Berkeley Mineral Resources (BMR) Director name: Mr Mark WainwrightAmount purchased: 847,500 @ 2.95p Value: £25,001Standard Life (SL.) Director name: Mr Jackie HuntAmount purchased: 10,193 @ 196.20p Value: £19,999Top Director SellsMood Media Corp. (DI) (MM.) Director name: Mr Justin BeckettAmount sold: 70,000 @ 174.38p Value: £122,066Mood Media Corp. (DI) (MM.) Director name: Mr Justin BeckettAmount sold: 50,000 @ 125.44p Value: £62,725Mood Media Corp. (DI) (MM.) Director name: Mr Justin BeckettAmount sold: 50,000 @ 117.91p Value: £58,955Mood Media Corp. (DI) (MM.) Director name: Mr Justin BeckettAmount sold: 25,000 @ 121.01p Value: £30,252Mood Media Corp. (DI) (MM.) Director name: Mr Justin BeckettAmount sold: 25,000 @ 110.94p Value: £27,735Mood Media Corp. (DI) (MM.) Director name: Mr Justin BeckettAmount sold: 15,000 @ 114.76p Value: £17,214Mood Media Corp. (DI) (MM.) Director name: Mr Justin BeckettAmount sold: 15,000 @ 107.88p Value: £16,182