News

Northern Foods chief executive Stefan Barden added a large chunk to his stake in the company when his wife spent nearly £200,000 on shares in the Goodfellas pizza and Fox's biscuit maker.

Sandra Barden took 264,572 shares at 75.07p a share, meaning that her husband is now interested in more than 1.7m shares in the company, just under 0.25%.

Shares in the Leeds-based company have fallen considerably since she last bought into the firm, taking 33,000 shares at 89p each in January.

Last month Northern Foods said it was making good progress in its three-year strategic plan, with pre-tax profit in the 52 weeks to 29 March rising to £50.1m from £40m a year earlier.

The chilled foods division saw operating profit rise from £14.6m to £22.1m, while operating profit at the bakery division improved to £14.9m from £12.7m.

However, profit from operations in the frozen foods division dipped to £11.4m from £18.4m, as poor summer weather, intense promotional activity and a strong euro all made trading difficult. The profitability of the Irish business, which exports almost 70% of its output to the UK, was reduced by £1.2m as a result of adverse currency translation effects.

Barden joined Northern Foods as executive director of the chilled foods division in January 2006 and became chief executive of the company in February 2007.
Top Director Buys

Investec (INVP)
Director name: Mr Ian Kantor
Amount purchased: 358,000 @ 321.00p
Value: £1,149,180

Northern Foods (NFDS)
Director name: Mr Stefan Barden
Amount purchased: 264,572 @ 75.10p
Value: £198,694

Newfound (NFND)
Director name: Mr John Morgan
Amount purchased: 500,000 @ 7.50p
Value: £37,500

OPD Group (OPD)
Director name: Mr Peter Hearn
Amount purchased: 14,500 @ 161.90p
Value: £23,476

Silverdell (SID)
Director name: Mr Sean Nutley
Amount purchased: 30,000 @ 78.00p
Value: £23,400

Diploma (DPLM)
Director name: Mr John L Rennocks
Amount purchased: 11,500 @ 163.00p
Value: £18,745

Ennstone (ENN)
Director name: Mr Colin Vaughan McLeod
Amount purchased: 50,000 @ 27.50p
Value: £13,750

Chloride Group (CHLD)
Director name: Mr Gary Bullard
Amount purchased: 5,000 @ 253.00p
Value: £12,650

Quest Capital (QCC)
Director name: Mr Walter Traub
Amount purchased: 5,000 @ 100.90p
Value: £5,045
Top Director Sells

Investec (INVP)
Director name: Mr Ian Kantor
Amount sold: 225,496 @ 343.00p
Value: £773,451

Rugby Estates (RES)
Director name: Mr David M F Tweeddale-Tye
Amount sold: 72,765 @ 393.00p
Value: £285,966

Rugby Estates (RES)
Director name: Mr Andrew Wilson
Amount sold: 72,765 @ 393.00p
Value: £285,966

Rugby Estates (RES)
Director name: Mr Stephen Jones
Amount sold: 37,655 @ 393.00p
Value: £147,984

Rugby Estates (RES)
Director name: Mr Neal Taylor
Amount sold: 33,963 @ 393.00p
Value: £133,475

Rugby Estates (RES)
Director name: Mr Alexander Wildman
Amount sold: 25,086 @ 393.00p
Value: £98,588

BSS Group (BTSM)
Director name: Mr Gavin Slark
Amount sold: 26,832 @ 355.50p
Value: £95,388