LONDON (ShareCast) - Directors at FTSE 250 package tour operator TUI Travel have made the most of the recent rise in the company's share price to sell off shares in the group.

Peter Long, TUI's Chief Executive Officer, sold 748,729 shares, Johan Lundgren, Deputy Chief Executive, sold 350,000 shares, and William Waggott, the Chief Financial Officer, sold 120,000. All of the shares were traded in at 277.21p each.

Long has retained an interest in 10.43m shares and earned just under £2.1m from the transaction.

The shares were sold on Tuesday, the same day the company revealed that its winter 2012/13 season has got off to a "very encouraging" start.

The company reported revenue of £14.46bn in the year to September 30th, down 2.0% from £14.69bn the year before, as organic growth of 2.0% was offset by a foreign currency translation impact of -4.0%.

Pre-tax profit rose 8.0% from £360m to £390m, helped by record Mainstream underlying operating profits (on a constant currency basis) in all markets with the exception of France and Southern Europe. Growth was also supplemented by £42m cost savings through the business improvement programme.

However, TUI's French operation reported an underlying operating loss of £47m, compared with a loss of £53m last year. The company reduced capacity by 34% in the region, with sizeable reductions in loss-making capacity to Egypt and a number of long-haul destinations.


Top Director Buys

F&C Asset Management (FCAM)
Director name: Mr Edward Bramson
Amount purchased: 75,000 @ 99.24p
Value: £74,430

Songbird Estates (SBD)
Director name: Mr Alexander Heini Philip Midgen
Amount purchased: 31,494 @ 113.39p
Value: £35,711

Monitise (MONI)
Director name: Mr Duncan J McIntyre
Amount purchased: 100,000 @ 30.00p
Value: £30,000

Fidelity Special Values (FSV)
Director name: Mr Andrew Irvine
Amount purchased: 5,000 @ 568.00p
Value: £28,400

Caterpillar Inc. (CTA)
Director name: Mr Eugene V Fife
Amount purchased: 160 @ € 65.96
Value: € 10,553

Macau Property Opportunities Fund Ltd. (MPO)
Director name: Mr Christopher Russell
Amount purchased: 11,911 @ 112.00p
Value: £13,340

Songbird Estates (SBD)
Director name: Mr Alexander Heini Philip Midgen
Amount purchased: 9,479 @ 113.05p
Value: £10,716


Top Director Sells

TUI Travel (TT.)
Director name: Mr Peter James Long
Amount sold: 748,729 @ 277.21p
Value: £2,075,552

TUI Travel (TT.)
Director name: Dr Volker Bottcher
Amount sold: 407,276 @ 278.10p
Value: £1,132,635

Next Fifteen Communications (NFC)
Director name: Mr Tim Dyson
Amount sold: 781,004 @ 100.00p
Value: £781,004

TUI Travel (TT.)
Director name: Dr Volker Bottcher
Amount sold: 101,819 @ 278.10p
Value: £283,159

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