Big Director Buys At British American Tobacco Plc, Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc And Goals Soccer Centres plc

Directors have splashed the cash at British American Tobacco Plc (LON:BATS), Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc (LON:RB) and Goals Soccer Centres plc (LON:GOAL).

| More on:

The content of this article was relevant at the time of publishing. Circumstances change continuously and caution should therefore be exercised when relying upon any content contained within this article.

When investing, your capital is at risk. The value of your investments can go down as well as up and you may get back less than you put in.

Read More

The content of this article is provided for information purposes only and is not intended to be, nor does it constitute, any form of personal advice. Investments in a currency other than sterling are exposed to currency exchange risk. Currency exchange rates are constantly changing, which may affect the value of the investment in sterling terms. You could lose money in sterling even if the stock price rises in the currency of origin. Stocks listed on overseas exchanges may be subject to additional dealing and exchange rate charges, and may have other tax implications, and may not provide the same, or any, regulatory protection as in the UK.

You’re reading a free article with opinions that may differ from The Motley Fool’s Premium Investing Services. Become a Motley Fool member today to get instant access to our top analyst recommendations, in-depth research, investing resources, and more. Learn More.

Directors at British American Tobacco (LSE: BATS) (NYSE: BTI.US), Reckitt Benckiser (LSE: RB) and Goals Soccer Centres (LSE: GOAL) splashed out this Christmas — on buying shares in their own companies.

At what price were these directors happy to treat themselves, and how much did they invest? Read on!

Goals Soccer Centres

Goals Soccer Centres, a £127m AIM-listed company, is the UK’s leading five-a-side football chain with 44 sites around the country.

Philip Burks, who co-founded self-storage firm Big Yellow Group, joined Goals as a non-executive director at the start of 2011. Up until recently, Burks had made relatively small annual purchases of Goals shares. However, in the last few months he’s massively upped his buying. A £240,000 investment on 22 December was the culmination of four separate purchases, totalling almost £0.7m.

Burks’s average buy price was 218p, but you’ll have to pay a bit more than that today. The shares currently trade at 235p — or 14 times 2015 forecast earnings.

Reckitt Benckiser

Another director who bought himself a £0.7m present of company shares was Reckitt Benckiser’s chief financial officer, Adrian Hennah. Hennah, who was poached from medical devices firm Smith & Nephew two years ago, bought 13,222 Reckitt shares at 5,177p a pop, doubling his previous holding at one fell swoop.

The share price is at around the same level today and represents a hefty 20 times Reckitt’s 2015 forecast earnings. However, you’ll miss out on a benefit Hennah and other shareholders at the time enjoyed. The CFO bought his shares before Reckitt demerged its pharmaceuticals business on 23 December, and, as such, automatically received shares in the new company, Indivior, currently worth 149p. Effectively, then, an investor today would need to buy Reckitt shares at 5,028p (5,177p minus 149p) to match Hennah’s deal.

British American Tobacco

British American Tobacco chairman Richard Burrows rounded off 2014 with a New Year’s Eve purchase of 5,000 company shares at 3,520p a time. The £176,000 investment took his total holding to 15,000 shares.

Burrows, a former chief executive of Pernod Ricard, who joined British American Tobacco in 2009, was happy to pay 16 times BAT’s 2015 forecast earnings and bag a dividend yield of 4.5%. You can pick the shares up slightly cheaper today at 3,460p.

Should you invest, the value of your investment may rise or fall and your capital is at risk. Before investing, your individual circumstances should be assessed. Consider taking independent financial advice.

G A Chester has no position in any shares mentioned. We Fools don't all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors.

More on Investing Articles

Investing Articles

6 stocks that Fools have been buying!

Our Foolish freelancers are putting their money where their mouths are and buying these stocks in recent weeks.

Read more »

Google office headquarters
Investing Articles

1 reason I like buying S&P 500 shares – and 1 reason I don’t

Will this investor try to improve his potential returns by focusing more on S&P 500 shares instead of British ones?…

Read more »

Young woman holding up three fingers
Investing Articles

3 SIPP mistakes to avoid

Our writer explains a trio of potentially costly errors he tries to avoid making when investing his SIPP, on an…

Read more »

Smiling white woman holding iPhone with Airpods in ear
Investing Articles

Here’s how (and why) I’d start buying shares with £25 a week

Our writer uses his investment experience and current approach to explain how he would start buying shares on a limited…

Read more »

Aerial shot showing an aircraft shadow flying over an idyllic beach
Investing Articles

Here’s my 5-step approach to earning passive income of £500 a month

Christopher Ruane explains the handful of steps he uses to target hundreds of pounds in passive income each month.

Read more »

Investing Articles

2 UK shares I’ve been buying this week

From a value perspective, UK shares look attractive. But two in particular have been attracting Stephen Wright’s attention over the…

Read more »

Investing Articles

A lifelong second income for just £10 a week? Here’s how!

With a simple, structured approach to buying blue-chip dividend shares at attractive prices, our writer's building a second income for…

Read more »

Investing Articles

Here’s how I’d use a £20k Stocks and Shares ISA to help build generational wealth

Discover how our writer would aim to turn a £20k Stocks and Shares ISA into a sizeable nest egg by…

Read more »