Tate boss invests £414,000

Tate & Lyle chief executive Javed Ahmed has bought £414,000 worth of shares in the sweeteners supplier.

He bought 100,000 shares at 413.95p each. This is his third purchase this year. He acquired 400,000 shares at 457p each in July and 100,000 shares at 390p each in January. Before these purchases he did not own any shares in the company so his total shareholding is 600,000 shares. The total cost of the stake is £2.63m.

Ahmed joined Tate & Lyle from Reckitt Benckiser on 1 October 2009. He had been with his former employer for 17 years.

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In its interim management statement for the three months to June 2010, Tate & Lyle said it had made a sound start to the year and it continues to anticipate progress in the current full year.

However, despite some improvement in demand, industrial starch margins are expected to remain at lower levels and the group continues to see little near term improvement in US ethanol markets.

In its Speciality Food Ingredients division, demand patterns for speciality sweeteners and starches have remained steady in the first quarter and the group has continued to experience solid growth in sucralose sales volumes.

Within Bulk Ingredients, corn sweetener volumes were somewhat above the prior year period, reflecting firm demand for HFCS in Mexico and the benefit of increased European capacity following completion of the expansion in Slovakia.

Top Director Buys

Tate & Lyle (TATE) Director name: Mr Javed AhmedAmount purchased: 100,000 @ 413.95p Value: £413,950

SIG (SHI) Director name: Mr Christopher DaviesAmount purchased: 25,000 @ 92.54p Value: £23,135

Derwent London (DLN) Director name: Mr Stephen G YoungAmount purchased: 1,000 @ 1,418.00p Value: £14,180

SIG (SHI) Director name: Mr Michael John ChiversAmount purchased: 15,000 @ 92.54p Value: £13,881

Top Director Sells

Serco Group (SRP) Director name: Mr Andrew JennerAmount sold: 33,181 @ 573.59p Value: £190,323

Serco Group (SRP) Director name: Mr Andrew JennerAmount sold: 18,524 @ 573.50p Value: £106,235