LONDON (ShareCast) - Directors at Jacques Vert spent more than £200,000 on shares, taking their combined holdings in the fashion retailer to more than 1%.

Chief executive Paul Allen paid around £80,000 for just under 0.8m shares and now has over 1m shares in the company, or around 0.6%.

Shena MacDonald, managing director of the womenswear division, paid just under £70,000 for around 690,000 shares, leaving her with 881,000 shares or 0.5% of the company.

Finance director Ian Johnson took 535,000 shares for £54,000 and now has around 695,000 shares, or 0.4% of the company.

The directors bought the shares through their self-invested pension plans and each paid 10.1p a share.

Shares in Jacques Vert, which sells clothes under its own name and the Planet, Precis Petite and Windsmoor brands, have fallen by more than 50% in the past year.

In January, it reported a sharp fall in pretax profits in the six months to October to £2.6m from £12.8m the previous year and warned that it was cautious about the second half.

Top Director Buys

Hilton Food (HFG)
Director name: Mr Gordon Summerfield
Amount purchased: 50,000 @ 185.00p
Value: £92,500

Jacques Vert (JQV)
Director name: Mr Paul Allen
Amount purchased: 794,201 @ 10.10p
Value: £80,214

Eatonfield Group (EFD)
Director name: Sir Sir Leslie Young
Amount purchased: 50,000 @ 144.00p
Value: £72,000

Jacques Vert (JQV)
Director name: Ms Shena P MacDonald
Amount purchased: 690,493 @ 10.10p
Value: £69,740

Jacques Vert (JQV)
Director name: Mr Ian Johnson
Amount purchased: 535,062 @ 10.10p
Value: £54,041

Talent Group (TTV)
Director name: Mr Terry Bate
Amount purchased: 1,000,000 @ 5.00p
Value: £50,000

Close High Income Properties (CHI)
Director name: Mr Donald Lake
Amount purchased: 40,000 @ 54.40p
Value: £21,760

Lowland Investment Co (LWI)
Director name: Mr Rupert Barclay
Amount purchased: 2,500 @ 832.80p
Value: £20,820

Sport Media Group (SPMG)
Director name: Mr David Bailey
Amount purchased: 60,000 @ 34.00p
Value: £20,400

Close High Income Properties (CHI)
Director name: Mr Jonathan Clague
Amount purchased: 30,000 @ 54.40p
Value: £16,320


Top Director Sells

Pearson (PSON)
Director name: Ms Rona A Fairhead
Amount sold: 6,297 @ 668.20p
Value: £42,077

Pearson (PSON)
Director name: Mr John Makinson
Amount sold: 5,091 @ 668.20p
Value: £34,018

Pearson (PSON)
Director name: Mr David C M Bell
Amount sold: 2,545 @ 668.20p
Value: £17,006

• News Channel