Shea takes Daniel Stewart stake to 15%

Peter Shea has added to his holding in broker Daniel Stewart Securities. Shea is chief executive of the broker and this is his first transaction in the shares since early September before a link up with Cairo-based Prime Group was announced.

Middle East investment bank Prime was going to invest £2.31m in shares at 2.1p each. A circular was promised by Daniel Stewart but everything went quiet. Just before the end of the year the broker announced that Prime and Daniel Stewart had undertaken due diligence on each other. A co-operation agreement is likely but no investment will be made by Prime. The two businesses are considering starting an asset management business and a private bank.

Shea has acquired 1.5m shares at 1.25p each. This takes his stake to 15.06%.

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A few days before the original announcement of Prime's proposed investment Shea acquired 350,000 shares at 2.875p each.

Daniel Stewart's revenues fell from £2.61m to £1.96m in the six months to September 2009 but this figure was slightly higher than the second half of the last financial year. The loss was reduced from £1.21m to £699,000 thanks to lower admin costs.

Cash has been a problem for Daniel Stewart. There was £881,000 in the bank at the end of September 2009. However, the operational cash flow in the six month period was £1.62m.

Daniel Stewart has signed a £1m, two-year unsecured credit facility to provide working capital. The primary provider is Swiss trust company FCI AG. This will help to cover some of the cash injection that would have come from Prime.

Even so, Daniel Stewart needs to reduce the cash outflow from operations.

Top Director BuysPetro Matad (MATD) Director name: Dr John Campbell RobertsonAmount purchased: 150,000 @ 15.60p Value: £23,400

Daniel Stewart Securities (DAN) Director name: Mr Peter D SheaAmount purchased: 1,500,000 @ 1.25p Value: £18,750

Sterling Energy (SEY) Director name: Mr Nicholas J. ClaytonAmount purchased: 7,500 @ 153.50p Value: £11,512

Top Director Sells

News Corp A (NCRA) Director name: Mr James MurdochAmount sold: 68,427 @ $9.09 Value: $622,001

News Corp A (NCRA) Director name: Mr James MurdochAmount sold: 64,907 @ $9.09 Value: $590,005

Caledonia Investments (CLDN) Director name: Mr John M MayAmount sold: 27,877 @ 1,619.50p Value: £451,468

Personal Group Holdings (PGH) Director name: Mr Ken W RooneyAmount sold: 42,000 @ 294.00p Value: £123,480

Dairy Farm International (Singapore) (DFI) Director name: Mr Ronald J FlotoAmount sold: 8,100 @ $5.96 Value: $48,308