Babcock chairman buys

Babcock non-executive chairman Mike Turner has invested £57,000 in the engineering support services provider following its interim figures earlier this week.

Turner acquired 10,000 shares at 572.74p each. That takes his stake to 30,000 shares.

Turner has been Babcock chairman for two years, joining after his retirement as chief executive of BAE Systems.

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Babcock delivered an adjusted pre-tax profit of £90.9m in the six months to September 2010, below Panmure Gordon's forecast of £93m, but an improvement on last year's figure of £71.8m.

Panmure says that the integration of VT is progressing well, with Babcock confident of achieving the merger benefits of £50m by 2013.

A better-than-expected cash conversion of 189% brought net debt down to £796m. That has given Babcock scope to bump up the interim dividend by 8% or so, in line with the group's progressive pay-out policy.

Prior to the release of the interims Babcock deputy chairman Lord Hesketh resigned after claiming the two new aircraft carriers his company is building for the Royal Navy will make Britain "a laughing stock".

Top Director Buys

Babcock International Group (BAB) Director name: Mr Mike TurnerAmount purchased: 10,000 @ 572.74p Value: £57,274

Norkom Group (NORK) Director name: Mr Paul KerleyAmount purchased: 52,000 @ 95.00p Value: £49,400

Kofax (KFX) Director name: Mr Christopher J ConwayAmount purchased: 15,000 @ 260.00p Value: £39,000