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Many commentators and analysts have been fretting about the level of dealings recently, with Artemis fund manager John Dodd, for example, admitting that 'the recent levels of director sales are worrying'. Over the past month they have been continuing unabated, as board members have looked to cash in their chips following the spring market surge.

Vardy nets £10m

Reg Vardy is one of the biggest names in car dealership in the UK, as well as being one of the most significant family businesses, having had only two chief executives in its time – the original Reg (who died in 1976) and one of his sons, now known as Sir Peter Vardy. Unsurprisingly for a company that has been growing since the 1940s (notably by selling Fords), the family has built up a fortune in its time – and Sir Peter remains the largest shareholder with 24 per cent. However, the institutions have been circling, looking to grab their piece of a lucrative pie that garnered £36 million of pre-tax profits last year, £2 million ahead of forecasts.

Their best means was to buy a portion of Vardy's holding. And following those final figures, released on 9 July, that is just what they did, tempting him into parting with two million shares priced at £5 apiece – a massive windfall of £10 million. Along with other purchases in the market, snapping up these shares raised Deutsche Bank's holding on behalf of clients to 13 per cent, consolidating its position as second largest shareholder behind Vardy. At the current 493.5p, those shares trade at a prospective p/e of 10.4 and a yield of 3.4 per cent.

Similar situations were occurring elsewhere, not least at television maker Alba, whose controlling Harris family succeeded in finding takers for 3.4 million shares in a placing – a hefty ten per cent of the total equity, leaving them with 35 per cent. Demand for the shares has been shown by the fact that they have since risen to 565p from 495p. Likewise at GW Pharmaceuticals, where directors Geoffrey Guy, Brian Whittle and Justin Glover netted themselves a total of £8.2 million by way of a direct placing of shares to institutions at 200p. The shares have since moved on to 206.5p.

Amongst other notable sells, Alexander Rozin, a director at exhibitions and conferences organiser ITE, cashed in £720,000 of chips at 36p in the first director dealing for more than a year. Before exceptional costs and goodwill amortisation, the company managed to more than double profits to £2.2 million in the six months to March.

Jimenez jumps in again

On the buying front, six directors, including chief executive Tom Dobson and chairman Michael West, dived into the market to buy shares in ground engineer Keller immediately after the company said it would not meet its growth targets this year.

At the head of the queue was the company's new Spanish non-executive Pedro Lopez Jimenez, who bought another 300,000 shares at 230p through his Terratest holding company, which sold Keller a 51 per cent stake in its operating business last year. Jimenez, as featured in May's edition, has been busy building up his holding ever since – to the extent that he now owns nearly six per cent of the company, more than the rest of the directors between them. The shares are now up to 257.5p.

Remaining in the construction sector, North Midland Construction's executive chairman Robert Moyle took time off from company duties to dip his toes into the water, picking up 50,000 shares at 99p to bring his holding above the five per cent mark. A Company Watch recommendation at 81.5p in April, the shares have since moved to 119.5p.

Another Growth Company Investor recommendation, Hardy Underwriting, has also attracted a bit of trading from insiders, in the form of amiable ex-Lloyds 'gamekeeper turned poacher' chief executive Barbara Merry and her non-executive board colleague Ian Ivory, who between them snapped up 39,420 shares at between 212p and 220p. Recommended at 183.5p last November, Hardy's shares now stand at 220.5p.

But few purchases have had as much effect on a company's share price as did those of Andrew Arends and Derek Bonham (ex-Marconi), chief executive and chairman respectively at health and safety software and services provider CamAxys. The two directors' purchases of 92,000 shares each, at a premium of 28p, were both from the Fieldens family, forming the deferred part of the original acquisition agreement concluded in November. Immediately CamAxys shares soared 87 per cent to 21.5p. However, they have since subsided to 17.5p.