Greencore CEO Patrick Coveney and a number of non-executive directors, including former US ambassador to Ireland Kevin O'Malley, have reportedly collectively bought 200,000 worth of shares to the value of €280,000.
This follows the news that convenience foods group shares slumped by as much as 30% earlier this week, reports Independent.ie.
Among those that rushed to support the group includes Coveney who allegedly bought 68,000 shares for £1.27 each, for a total outlay of £86,360 (€97,415).
It is believed that the wife of chief financial officer Eoin Tonge, Annabel Tonge, bought 20,383 shares at £1.29 each, for a total of just under £26,000 (€29,000), Greencore non-executive director Heather Ann McSharry bought 20,000 shares at £1.27 each, while Mr O'Malley bought 10,000 shares at £1.26 each.
Fellow non-executive Greencore director Thomas Sampson reportedly paid £64,500 (€72,757) to buy 50,000 shares at almost £1.29 each and Gary Kennedy bought 30,000 for £36,000 (€40,790).
Leadership Shake Up
All the Greencore executives who bought shares this week reportedly acquired them on March 14 - the day after the company announced it plans as 'part of a shake up' of the company leadership team.
Earlier this week the company announced that Patrick Coveney, is to spend ‘approximately half his time’ in the US, as part of a shakeup of the company's leadership team.
Coveney is to take a ‘direct role in the strategic, organisational and commercial leadership of Greencore US’ as part of his new role, with Chuck Metzger, COO of Greencore US assuming day-to-day responsibility for the US business.
Elsewhere, Chris Kirke, outgoing CEO of Greencore US is leading the Group to return to the UK.
The company, 'has restructured its US leadership team to drive near term performance and to exploit its growth agenda,' the group said in a statement.
Looking Ahead
Looking ahead to the coming financial year, the group said that it ‘continues to anticipate good organic revenue growth and a modest improvement in operating leverage’, despite softer volume growth in the second quarter, due to poor weather.
It it anticipating an impairment charge of around £3 million to its full year income statement, as a result of the planned network restructuring.
Greencore's tumultuous week was perhaps the worst for its shares since 2008, when it shares fell by in the region of 20%.
At the end of January, the group vowed to work harder on building shareholder confidence, in particular around its growth potential in the US, while trying to steady a volatile share price.
The group's share price dropped by almost 7% in 2017, due to currency fluctuations, uncertain customer relations in the US, short-selling of the Greencore stock by hedge funds and profit warnings from peer groups.
© 2018 - Checkout Magazine by Donna Ahern
