Chairman-elect buys Collins Stewart shares

Chairman-elect Tim Ingram has acquired 250,000 shares in broker Collins Stewart.

Ingram has been a non-exec on the broker's board for 10 weeks and the share purchase at 77.69p a share represents an investment of £194,225. The purchase takes his stake to 285,000 shares.

Ingram takes over as chairman from Terry Smith on 1 April. Ingram has been chief executive of Caledonia Investments since 2002 and prior to that worked at Abbey National and First National Finance Corporation.

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The shares were acquired the day after Collins Stewart released its 2009 figures and announced the purchase of Corazon Capital Group for an initial £1m in shares. There is potential deferred consideration of up to £6m in shares. Corazon managed £382m of assets in Guernsey and Geneva at the end of February 2010. This will enhance the wealth management division of Collins Stewart.

Collins Stewart returned to profit in 2009 despite tough markets after progress at all of its units.

Pre-tax profit came in at £18.4m compared to a pre-tax loss of £15.2m the year before. Revenue increased to £186.4m for the year ended 31 December 2009 from £175.7m previously.

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Collins Stewart (CLST) Director name: Mr Tim IngramAmount purchased: 250,000 @ 77.69p Value: £194,225

Unilever (ULVR) Director name: Mr Paul PolmanAmount purchased: 9,484 @ 1,944.00p Value: £184,369

Shaftesbury (SHB) Director name: Mr P John ManserAmount purchased: 16,667 @ 375.24p Value: £62,541

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Wolseley (WOS) Director name: Mr Ian MeakinsAmount purchased: 1,098 @ 1,576.00p Value: £17,304

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Serco Group (SRP) Director name: Mr Kevin S BeestonAmount sold: 120,798 @ 590.59p Value: £713,421

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BP (BP.) Director name: Mr Byron E GroteAmount sold: 58,536 @ 638.64p Value: £373,834

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