Centrica's chairman Sir Roger Carr has doubled his stake in the energy supplier, spending £100,000.
He bought 31,920 shares at 313.3p a time and now has 58,361.
Carr has been chairman of Centrica since 2004. He was also chairman of Cadbury until the chocolate manufacturer was taken over by the US food giant Kraft last year. Next month he becomes president of the Confederation of Business and Industry (CBI).
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Centrica said last week that it expects profits growth in 2011 to be more subdued than previously anticipated due to the new tax regime on UK oil production.
Centrica, which operates British Gas and also has oil and gas production operations, says the increase in the Supplementary Charge (SCT) rate from 20% to 32% on UK production announced in March in the Government's budget offsets the benefit of higher commodity prices on its production business.
"For the group as a whole, increased pre-tax profits from our UK upstream business are expected to more than offset lower profits from the UK downstream business and from storage," Centrica said.
"We continue to expect growth in our 2011 group earnings but at a more modest rate than anticipated at the time of our last results announcement as upstream profits have become more highly taxed."
Top Director BuysCOLT Group SA (COLT) Director name: Mr Rakesh BhasinAmount purchased: 100,000 @ 149.05p Value: £149,050
Centrica (CNA) Director name: Mr Roger CarrAmount purchased: 31,920 @ 313.28p Value: £99,999
Aberdeen New Thai Inv Trust (ANW) Director name: Mr James RobinsonAmount purchased: 4,000 @ 267.00p Value: £10,680
Top Director SellsM Winkworth (WINK) Director name: Mr Simon AgaceAmount sold: 200,000 @ 87.50p Value: £175,000
KBC Advanced Technologies (KBC) Director name: Mr Nicholas StoneAmount sold: 93,029 @ 72.00p Value: £66,981
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