Share Watch: Gannett nosedives, NCC directors build stakes…

GANNETT, the US parent of North West newspaper group Newsquest, has seen its share price collapse in the past few weeks.

Its stock has more than halved in value from $21 to $10 since the start of the month following gloomy news on advertising revenues. Back in 2003 shares were worth $90 each.

In August the group announced it was cutting 1,000 journalism jobs – 3% of its editorial workforce – in the US. Its North West titles are also facing up to a tough advertising market.

Newsquest is planning to cut five editorial postitions at its offices in Bolton, Leigh and Bury.

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THE directors of IT specialist NCC Group have bumped up their holdings in the Manchester firm after benefitting from an incentive scheme.

Six directors, including chief executive Rob Cotton, were awarded shares. Mr Cotton was the biggest gainer receiving 62,916 shares worth £221,464 at Friday’s price of 352p.

Group development director John Redeyoff took 28,313, worth £99,661, while finance director Paul Edwards and escrow solutions’ operational director Jonathan Leigh both received 27,525, a holding with a value of £96,888.

Group company secretary Felicity Brandwood took 16,516 and consultancy operational director Roger Rawlinson received 22,020.

All the directors sold some of these shares on the same day at 355p to cover tax charges and the cost of exercising the option.

Following these trades Mr Cotton was still the largest shareholder with 1,594,212 shares – a £5.6m stake at Friday’s prices. Mr Edwards has 264,238, worth £930,117. The other directors’ holdings vary in value from £378,730 to £859,115.

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FORMER Tory party treasurer Lord Marland has taken extra shares in the Manchester broker WH Ireland.

A non-executive director at the business, he has been alloted 10,716 ordinary shares of 5p each. It follows a scrip dividend election earlier in the month which enlarged the ordinary share capital by 62,189.

It takes Lord Marland’s holding to 1,197,359 shares, or 5.7% of the share capital. The stake has a value of around £890,000 at Friday’s price of 75.5p a share.

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FUND manager Gartmore Investment has piled in to Manchester drug developer Renovo building a 7% stake in the business.

Gartmore’s most recent trade last week pushed it over the 5% threshold. It now has nearly 13 million shares, worth around £3.5m.

The share price rose 9% to around 27p last week after Goldman Sachs issued a note saying it expects the company to survive the current economic problems. Renovo was a University of Manchester spin-out.

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LEGAL & General has increased its stake in the Carlisle transport and warehousing Stobart Group.

The investments and insurance group holds 4% of the share capital after buying more than two million shares last Tuesday.

The trade was worth more than £2m at Tuesday’s share price of between 92-97p.