Dairy Crest bosses buy en masse

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

Directors at Dairy Crest made a combined effort to shore up the share price of the cheese, butter and milk supplier, soon after a profit warning sent the firm's shares sharply lower.

Executive managing director Martin Oakes bought 19,787 and non-executive director David Richardson took 12,367.

Meanwhile finance boss Alastair Murray, chairman Simon Oliver and executive managing director Martyn Wiks took 10,000 shares.

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Each director paid 200.65p meaning the combined value of their purchases was about £125,000.

The spending spree comes the week after Dairy Crest warned adjusted profit before tax for 2009 will be approximately 10% below last year as it posted lower half-year profits.

"Looking forward to the second half, the economic environment is becoming increasingly tough and more difficult to predict," said the firm.

"We expect business performance to be impacted by the current downturn, weaker returns from dairy ingredients and lower realisations from the sale of surplus properties."

Top Director Buys

Canaccord Capital (CCI)

Director name: Mr Peter MacLachlan Brown

Amount purchased: 50,000 @ 246.88p

Value: £123,440

Allied Gold (AGLD)

Director name: Mr Mark V Caruso

Amount purchased: 1,000,000 @ 8.79p

Value: £87,900

Hansteen Holdings (HSTN)

Director name: Mr Richard S Mully

Amount purchased: 75,000 @ 65.00p

Value: £48,750

Dairy Crest Group (DCG)

Director name: Mr Martin Oakes

Amount purchased: 19,787 @ 200.70p

Value: £39,713

Laird (LRD)

Director name: Dr William R Spivey

Amount purchased: 50,000 @ 68.80p

Value: £34,400

Laird (LRD)

Director name: Dr William R Spivey

Amount purchased: 50,000 @ 65.80p

Value: £32,900

Macfarlane Group (MACF)

Director name: Mr Peter Atkinson

Amount purchased: 142,500 @ 17.50p

Value: £24,938

Macfarlane Group (MACF)

Director name: Mr Graeme Bissett

Amount purchased: 142,500 @ 17.50p

Value: £24,938

Dairy Crest Group (DCG)

Director name: Mr David H Richardson

Amount purchased: 12,367 @ 200.70p

Value: £24,821

Dairy Crest Group (DCG)

Director name: Mr Mark Allen

Amount purchased: 10,000 @ 200.70p

Value: £20,070