Chairman gives Powerleague vote of confidence

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

Claude Littner, former chairman and chief executive of Amstrad, has topped up his holding in Powerleague, taking his stake in the five-a-side football centre operator up to 6.12%.

Littner, who is executive chairman of Powerleague, now holds more than 5m shares in the company after his latest purchase of 225,000 shares at 27p each.

It is not the first involvement in a football related company for Littner, who was chief executive of Tottenham Hotspur for six years from 1993. His other claim to fame is appearing alongside Sir Alan Sugar on the judging panel on the first series of BBC 2's "The Apprentice."

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Shares in AIM-listed Powerleague have been heading for the relegation zone, and are down by around 70% over the last year. Nevertheless Littner remains optimistic about the company's prospects, with income from pitch rental fees holding up and a number of new sites due to come on stream.

Top Director Buys

Shire Plc (SHP)

Director name: Mr David Mott

Amount purchased: 15,000 @ 791.00p

Value: £118,650

Banco Santander SA (BNC)

Director name: Mr Luis Alberto Salazar-Simpson Bos

Amount purchased: 15,688 @ 577.58p

Value: £90,611

Powerleague (PWR)

Director name: Mr Claude Littner

Amount purchased: 225,000 @ 27.00p

Value: £60,750

Aero Inventory (AI.)

Director name: Mr Roger Davis

Amount purchased: 25,872 @ 215.00p

Value: £55,625

RPS Group (RPS)

Director name: Mr Roger Devlin

Amount purchased: 30,000 @ 169.00p

Value: £50,700

BG Group (BG.)

Director name: Mr Peter Backhouse

Amount purchased: 5,000 @ 954.90p

Value: £47,745

BG Group (BG.)

Director name: Mr Peter Backhouse

Amount purchased: 5,000 @ 954.50p

Value: £47,725

Wilmington Group (WIL)

Director name: Mr Mark Asplin

Amount purchased: 20,000 @ 142.00p

Value: £28,400

3i Group (III)

Director name: Mrs Baroness Hogg

Amount purchased: 5,000 @ 545.40p

Value: £27,270

Hambledon Mining (HMB)

Director name: Mr Neil Robert Stevenson

Amount purchased: 1,000,000 @ 2.60p

Value: £26,000