National Express's Finch swoops for shares

National Express's new chairman Dean Finch has opened his account at the rail and bus group with the purchase of nearly £150,000 worth of shares.

He bought 68,275 shares at 218.5p a time.

Finch was also awarded shares that he will be able to sell if he is still working with the company when they vest. He was awarded 28,023 shares that will vest on 1 April 2011 and 18,281 shares that will vest on 1 April.

The purchase and share awards mean he is now holds 114,579 ordinary shares in the company.

Finch joined National Express as chief executive on 15 February after a short stint as chief executive of Tube Lines, which provides maintenance services for trains and infrastructure on the Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly lines of the London underground.

Prior to that he worked for 10 years in senior roles at National Express's rival FirstGroup.

Finch replaced Richard Bowker at the helm of National Express. Bowker left National Express last month to take up a job overseeing the construction of a railway network in the United Arab Emirates.

Soon after Finch joined the group, National Express, which recently lost the east coast rail franchise, posted a sharp drop in profits for 2009.

Pre-tax profit from continuing operations dropped by 43% from the previous year to £116.2m. Revenue fell slightly to £2.71bn compared with £2.77bn last time.

Top Director Buys

National Express Group (NEX)
Director name: Mr Dean K Finch
Amount purchased: 68,275 @ 218.06p
Value: £148,880

Trakm8 (TRAK)
Director name: Mr John Ferris Watkins
Amount purchased: 833,333 @ 12.00p
Value: £100,000

Trakm8 (TRAK)
Director name: Mr James Killingworth Hedges
Amount purchased: 583,333 @ 12.00p
Value: £70,000

Trakm8 (TRAK)
Director name: Mr Charles D Buck
Amount purchased: 511,994 @ 12.00p
Value: £61,439

WPP Group (WPP)
Director name: Mr Timothy Shriver
Amount purchased: 5,000 @ 648.43p
Value: £32,421

Plant Health Care (PHC)
Director name: Dr Dominik Koechlin
Amount purchased: 20,000 @ 234.00p
Value: £46,800

Leaf Clean Energy (LEAF)
Director name: Mr John Curtis Moffatt
Amount purchased: 50,000 @ 61.00p
Value: £30,500

Trakm8 (TRAK)
Director name: Mr Tim Cowley
Amount purchased: 207,707 @ 12.00p
Value: £24,925

Chamberlin and Hill (CMH)
Director name: Mr Tim M Hair
Amount purchased: 30,000 @ 51.00p
Value: £15,300

Leyshon Resources (LRL)
Director name: Mr John Fletcher CBE
Amount purchased: 113,500 @ 10.56p
Value: £11,986


Top Director Sells

Compass Group (CPG)
Director name: Mr Andrew Martin
Amount sold: 1,015,000 @ 503.35p
Value: £5,109,002

Advanced Computer Software (ASW)
Director name: Mr Michael Jackson
Amount sold: 728,228 @ 39.00p
Value: £284,009

Weir Group (WEIR)
Director name: Mr Alan W F Mitchelson
Amount sold: 25,392 @ 922.81p
Value: £234,320

Weir Group (WEIR)
Director name: Mr Keith Cochrane
Amount sold: 17,432 @ 922.81p
Value: £160,864