LONDON (ShareCast) - Shares in accident management group Helphire moved sharply higher today after directors bought more than £¼m of shares in the company following last week’s slump.

Chief executive Mark Jackson spent over £100,000 buying 60,000 at 186p each, taking his holding to 1.26m shares, or just over 0.9%.

He was joined by non-executive chairman Rodney Baker-Bates, who bought 21,600 shares at 185p a go, lifting his stake to 67,600 shares, operations director David Robertson who upped his holding by 20,000 to 148,486, also at 185p, and board member David Paige who opened his account with the purchase of 17,500 shares at the same price.

Finance director David Lindsay, who bought 25,000 shares on Friday, took a further 25,000 today through his pension fund, paying 185.75p a share and lifting his stake to almost 250,000 shares.

Helphire, which provides car crash victims with replacement vehicles, gained more than 10% today, having lost 40% of their value last Friday after profits fell short of expectations.

Interim pre-tax profit totalled £19.4m, far short of the £25m analysts expected. The company also saw net debt almost double to £343m from £172m as it lifted its fleet size to 20,000 cars.

Top Director Buys

Banco Santander Central Hispano (BNC)
Director name: Mr Alfredo Saenz Abad
Amount purchased: 37,324 @ 889.32p
Value: £331,930

Bank of Ireland (BKIR)
Director name: Mr Brian J Goggin
Amount purchased: 30,000 @ € 9.20
Value: € 276,000

Banco Santander Central Hispano (BNC)
Director name: Mr Matias Rodriguez Inciarte
Amount purchased: 20,195 @ 889.32p
Value: £179,598

Helphire Group (HHR)
Director name: Dr Mark Jackson
Amount purchased: 60,000 @ 186.00p
Value: £111,600

ZincOx (ZOX)
Director name: Mr Rod Beddows
Amount purchased: 47,500 @ 220.00p
Value: £104,500

Aberforth Geared Cap & Inc Tst Plc (AFHC)
Director name: Mr T Michael Foulkes
Amount purchased: 25,000 @ 383.50p
Value: £95,875

ZincOx (ZOX)
Director name: Mr Peter Beck
Amount purchased: 38,332 @ 220.00p
Value: £84,330

Diageo (DGE)
Director name: Mr Philip G Scott
Amount purchased: 5,000 @ 1,033.50p
Value: £51,675

Trinity Mirror (TNI)
Director name: Sir Sir Ian Gibson
Amount purchased: 17,700 @ 282.50p
Value: £50,002

ZincOx (ZOX)
Director name: Mr Andrew Woollett
Amount purchased: 22,500 @ 220.00p
Value: £49,500


Top Director Sells

Hargreaves Services (HSP)
Director name: Mr Kevin James Stewart Dougan
Amount sold: 175,000 @ 500.00p
Value: £875,000

RM Group (RM.)
Director name: Mr Rob Sirs
Amount sold: 28,961 @ 215.00p
Value: £62,266

RM Group (RM.)
Director name: Mr Rob Sirs
Amount sold: 6,400 @ 215.00p
Value: £13,760

• News Channel