Non-exec's wife buys GKN shares

A round-up of the biggest director deals today so far.

The wife of Mike Turner, the senior independent non-executive director of GKN, has bought 60,000 shares in the engineer.

Jean Turner paid 133.41p a share and the total investment was just over £80,000.

The husband and wife have a total holding of 160,000 GKN shares. Last August, Turner bought 100,000 shares at 116.9p a share.

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Mike Turner was appointed to the GKN board in September 2009 having spent more than four decades at BAE Systems, where he was chief executive between 2002 and 2008.

A strong recovery by the automotive division, which was reported in the interim management statement released in April, helped GKN swing back into profit in the first three months of 2010.

"Market conditions in the first quarter of 2010 have been encouraging and all major businesses have continued to make good progress," it said. GKN warned that raw material costs, particularly scrap steel, have increased significantly in recent months and there may be a lag in recovering these from customers.

Group sales rose 22% to £1.31bn with constant currency sales up by 26%. Trading profits jumped to £84m from a loss of £12m, with a pre-tax profit of £71m.

Global light vehicle production increased by 50% over a very weak comparable period last year, with GKN's automotive division sales up by 50% to £852m and a trading profit of £51m.

GKN has also agreed to pay £30m per annum into its pension fund for the next 20 years in a move that will reduce the overall liability by about £400m.

Top Director Buys

London Capital Group (LCG) Director name: Mr Simon David DenhamAmount purchased: 250,000 @ 95.00p Value: £237,500

COLT Telecom Group S.A. (COLT) Director name: Mr Rakesh BhasinAmount purchased: 100,000 @ 118.45p Value: £118,450

GKN (GKN) Director name: Mr Mike TurnerAmount purchased: 60,000 @ 133.41p Value: £80,046

London Capital Group (LCG) Director name: Mrs Rachel WoodfordAmount purchased: 50,000 @ 95.00p Value: £47,500

CLS Holdings (CLI) Director name: Mr H O Thomas LundqvistAmount purchased: 5,000 @ 481.00p Value: £24,050

CLS Holdings (CLI) Director name: Mr Sten A MortstedtAmount purchased: 4,232 @ 471.00p Value: £19,933

Jubilee Platinum (JLP) Director name: Mr Malcolm BurneAmount purchased: 50,000 @ 33.75p Value: £16,875

Hill and Smith (HILS) Director name: Mr Bill WhiteleyAmount purchased: 4,250 @ 354.00p Value: £15,045

Beacon Hill Resources (BHR) Director name: Mr Timothy JonesAmount purchased: 250,000 @ 5.25p Value: £13,125

Hill and Smith (HILS) Director name: Mr Clive SnowdonAmount purchased: 2,930 @ 348.09p Value: £10,199

Top Director Sells

Irish Continental Group Units (ICGC) Director name: Mr Thomas CorcoranAmount sold: 5,000 @ € 16.80 Value: € 84,000