New Connaught chairman invests £500,000

Newly appointed non-executive chairman Sir Roy Gardner has invested nearly £500,000 in social housing repairs group Connaught.

He has bought 158,808 shares at 314.8p a share. He did not own any shares prior to the purchase.

Sir Roy is an ex-chief executive of Centrica and the current chairman of Compass.

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The arrival of Sir Roy at Connaught prompted Numis to upgrade Connaught from add to buy. One of the main reasons for this was the improved corporate governance promised by the new appointment.

The departure of Mark Davies as chief executive led to a sharp fall in the Connaught share price earlier this year. Mark Tincknell, who was previously executive chairman, took over as chairman at the time. Tincknell was chief executive when Connaught floated on AIM in 1998.

Tincknell has also been buying but he managed to make his latest acquisition at 308.7p a share. He has invested more than £1m in 335,399 shares. Prior to this, Tincknell made three purchases of 100,000 each since the resignation of Davies. These cost a total of just over £955,000.

There will be an interim management statement in July.

Top Director Buys

Connaught (CNT) Director name: Mr Mark William TincknellAmount purchased: 335,399 @ 308.70p Value: £1,035,377

Connaught (CNT) Director name: Sir Roy A GardnerAmount purchased: 158,808 @ 314.80p Value: £499,928

Banco Santander SA (BNC) Director name: Mr Francisco Luzon LopezAmount purchased: 6,410 @ 672.88p Value: £43,132

Banco Santander SA (BNC) Director name: Mr Francisco Luzon LopezAmount purchased: 6,490 @ 664.25p Value: £43,110

Bovis Homes Group (BVS) Director name: Mr Alastair LyonsAmount purchased: 10,000 @ 391.80p Value: £39,180

Novae Group (NVA) Director name: Mr Laurie AdamsAmount purchased: 10,000 @ 302.50p Value: £30,250

Cobham (COB) Director name: Mr John Devaney Amount purchased: 10,000 @ 244.55p Value: £24,455

Alexon Group (AXN) Director name: Mr John BoyleAmount purchased: 86,317 @ 23.03p Value: £19,879

Alexon Group (AXN) Director name: Mr Jane McNallyAmount purchased: 88,000 @ 22.50p Value: £19,800

Top Director Sells

Soco International (SIA) Director name: Mr Rui C De SousaAmount sold: 15,000 @ 1,610.00p Value: £241,500