Mouchel boss's family takes shares

The wife and son of Mouchel's chief executive Richard Cuthbert have been taking advantage of weakness in the share price of the provider of outsourced services to the public sector.

His wife Julia and son Simon each took 20,000 shares, paying 121p a time and paying a combined total of nearly £50,000. Last week chairman Bo Lerenius took 10,000 shares at 104p a go.

Among the services Mouchel provides are mobile CCTV vehicles that catch parking offenders, road design and lighting.

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Its share price has suffered over the past month after a warning in June that the environment for government and public sector contracts has worsened markedly under the new coalition government.

'Demand for the group's services, as we anticipated, has been affected by the measures taken by the new government to address the budget deficit and by the similar actions of some local authority clients,' it said.

The timing and the impact of these measures have been particularly noticeable in the more discretionary areas of expenditure, especially roads and schools capital programmes, it added.

Mouchel said that though the short-term outlook is difficult, the underlying performance for the current year to the end of July will be in line with its expectations, excluding any one-off costs of restructuring.

Top Director Buys

Polo Resources (POL) Director name: Mr Stephen R DattelsAmount purchased: 40,000,000 @ 5.94p Value: £2,372,000

Mouchel Group (MCHL) Director name: Mr R H CuthbertAmount purchased: 40,000 @ 121.08p Value: £48,432

Ceres Power Holdings (CWR) Director name: Mr Brian CountAmount purchased: 50,000 @ 60.19p Value: £30,095

W H Ireland (WHI) Director name: Mr Rupert J G LoweAmount purchased: 50,000 @ 39.00p Value: £19,500

Ceres Power Holdings (CWR) Director name: Mr Rex VeversAmount purchased: 20,000 @ 61.50p Value: £12,300

Ceres Power Holdings (CWR) Director name: Mr Peter BanceAmount purchased: 20,000 @ 60.00p Value: £12,000