LONDON (ShareCast) - Easydate non-executive Martin Higginson has taken advantage of the recent strong trading statement from the online dating company to sell nearly all of his shares.

At the beginning of October, Higginson exercised options over 398,600 shares. He did not own any shares before then and he has sold 398,000 shares at 95p each, raising £378,000.

The company’s broker Cenkos says that the share disposal, which came during a lock-in period following the flotation in June, was “in order to satisfy demand from a new institutional investor”.

No option price was mentioned in the announcement when Higginson took up his options but the presently exercisable options mentioned in the flotation prospectus cost 3p a share. Easydate raised £8.8m net from a placing at 60p a share, when it joined AIM.

As well as the 600 remaining shares, Higginson still has options over 797,160 shares. Higginson is chief executive of AIM-quoted interactive gaming firm NetPlay TV. Higginson owns 7.86% of NetPlay TV, which is worth just over £1.6m at 7.38p a share.

Easydate finance director Mark Doughty has bought 4,600 shares at 106p each. These are his first shares but he also holds options over 544,000 shares.

In the first nine months of 2010, revenues grew at 30% a quarter thanks to higher marketing spending.

Since floating, Easydate has acquired US rival Cupid for £4.4m. The growth figures exclude Cupid.

Top Director Buys

Value and Income Trust (VIN)
Director name: Mr Matthew A Oakeshott
Amount purchased: 50,000 @ 169.00p
Value: £84,500

Taylor Wimpey (TW.)
Director name: Mr Anthony J Reading
Amount purchased: 260,000 @ 25.27p
Value: £65,702

Taylor Wimpey (TW.)
Director name: Mr Kevin S Beeston
Amount purchased: 200,000 @ 25.08p
Value: £50,160

Taylor Wimpey (TW.)
Director name: Ms Sheryl Palmer
Amount purchased: 127,934 @ 25.08p
Value: £32,086

Dixons Retail (DXNS)
Director name: Mr Andrew Lynch
Amount purchased: 100,000 @ 26.35p
Value: £26,350

Murray Income Trust (MUT)
Director name: Mr David Woods
Amount purchased: 3,000 @ 604.50p
Value: £18,135

Media Corp. (MDC)
Director name: Mr Justin Drummond
Amount purchased: 500,000 @ 2.72p
Value: £13,600

Barratt Developments (BDEV)
Director name: Mr Clive Fenton
Amount purchased: 13,523 @ 74.99p
Value: £10,141

Barratt Developments (BDEV)
Director name: Mr Clive Fenton
Amount purchased: 13,497 @ 75.13p
Value: £10,140


Top Director Sells

Discovery Metals Ltd. (CDI) (DME)
Director name: Mr Gordon Galt
Amount sold: 308,211 @ 78.41p
Value: £241,668

Easydate (EZD)
Director name: Mr Martin Higginson
Amount sold: 398,000 @ 95.00p
Value: £378,100

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