Victorian Plumbing boss buys £2.9m of shares following fall in value
Senior figures at Skelmersdale bathroom products company Victorian Plumbing have snapped up shares following a slump in their value.
Chief executive Mark Radcliffe today (December 10) spent almost £2.9m in dealings which take his stake in the business to more than 46%, while his brother, product officer Neil, increased his shareholding by purchasing half a million shares.
The share price had tumbled by 40% yesterday.
Neil Radcliffe acquired 529,267 ordinary shares for 94p taking the total shares held to 30m, representing approximately 9.29% of the total share capital.
The transaction was made on the day the online retailers shares plummeted by 40% after the group, the UK’s biggest online bathroom products seller, cautioned investors of flatter earnings in the year ahead.
The wipe-out saw shares plummet by as much as 45% from 155p to 90p, in the worst day of trading since the retailer’s bumper float in June.
Today, (December 10) Victorian Plumbing posted a note on the stock exchange confirming that chief executive Mark Radcliffe had bought three million ordinary shares of £0.01 each in the company, at a price of £0.9665 per share.
Following these transactions, Mr Radcliffe holds 151,379,642 ordinary shares, representing approximately 46.57% of the company’s issued share capital.
Yesterday the group reported revenues had lifted nearly 30% to £268.8m in the year to September 30, while its adjusted earnings jumped over 50% to £40.1m.
However, the company had warned shareholders that its adjusted earnings could be closer to 2020’s figure – around £26.2m.
Although total orders and average order values have also grown 17% and 10% respectively over the past 12 months, investors were left unconvinced by the retailers position.
The firm’s £850m IPO was the largest ever completed on the junior AIM exchange and crystallised a fortune for founder Mark Radcliffe, who sold shares worth £212m from his 72% stake.
