LONDON (ShareCast) - Donna Wharton, wife of Nick Wharton, the Chief Executive of homewares firm Dunelm, has topped up her stake in the company with 9,500 shares.

Wharton's purchase, which saw her buy the shares at 480.00p each for a total of £45,600, came just a day after Will Adderley, Executive Deputy Chairman, announced plans to cash in a big chunk of his shares in the bedding and curtains retailer.

Adderley, who is also the son of the founder of the company, and his wife Nadine, are offloading around 5m shares, representing about 2.5% of the issued share capital of Dunelm. The disposal will still leave the Adderley family holding around 56.2% of all the shares in issue, with Will Adderley's personal stake standing at 32.4%.

It's been a busy week for the firm, with newly appointed director Matt Davies underlining his loyalty to the firm with the purchase of 4,500 shares, which he bought on Tuesday 6th at 499p each for a total of £22,455. Davies joined the firm after resigning from his job as head of animal products retailer Pets at Home, a position he held since 2004.

Last month the firm reported a 7.8% rise in pre-tax profit for the half year ended December 31st. As expected, profits for the year came in at £52.2m, compared to £48.4m for the same period of the previous year, on revenues of £299.9m, which is up 8.8% compared to the year before (2010: £275.7m).

In other news, AZ Electonic Materials's Chief Technology Officer, Ralph Dammel, sold 40,000 shares at 284.70p each, taking his total holding to 280,000 shares for £11,388.

The company, which produces speciality chemical materials to technological manufacturers, recently reported a rise in revenues, EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) and returned to the black with profits of $125m, despite a challenging economic environment.

Revenues grew from $682.1 to $791.8m, while a loss of $90.6m in 2010 turned to a profit of $125.6m in 2011. EBITDA leapt 16% to $261m (2010: $225.6m), however the EBITDA margin lost 0.1 percentage points to 33.0%.


Top Director Buys

Serco Group (SRP)
Director name: Mr Christopher R Hyman
Amount purchased: 40,738 @ 515.34p
Value: £209,939

Serco Group (SRP)
Director name: Mr Andrew Jenner
Amount purchased: 20,737 @ 515.34p
Value: £106,866

Dunelm Group (DNLM)
Director name: Mr Nick Wharton
Amount purchased: 9,500 @ 480.00p
Value: £45,600

Oxford Biomedica (OXB)
Director name: Mr Tim Watts
Amount purchased: 1,000,000 @ 3.02p
Value: £30,200

Terrace Hill Group (THG)
Director name: Mr Philip Leech
Amount purchased: 250,000 @ 11.75p
Value: £29,375

Avanti Communications Group (AVN)
Director name: Mr David J Williams
Amount purchased: 10,000 @ 250.00p
Value: £25,000

Terrace Hill Group (THG)
Director name: Mr Jonathan Martin Austen
Amount purchased: 200,000 @ 12.25p
Value: £24,500

Taylor Wimpey (TW.)
Director name: Mr Mike Hussey
Amount purchased: 50,000 @ 48.23p
Value: £24,115

Maven Income & Growth 3 VCT (MIG3)
Director name: Mr Bill Nixon
Amount purchased: 15,606 @ 83.70p
Value: £13,062

Maven Income & Growth 2 VCT (MIG2)
Director name: Mr Bill Nixon
Amount purchased: 22,001 @ 59.37p
Value: £13,062

Top Director Sells

Serco Group (SRP)
Director name: Mr Christopher R Hyman
Amount sold: 92,689 @ 519.51p
Value: £481,529

Kerry Group 'A' Shares (KYGA)
Director name: Mr Gerry Behan
Amount sold: 13,800 @ € 32.40
Value: €447,120

Kerry Group 'A' Shares (KYGA)
Director name: Mr Stan McCarthy
Amount sold: 11,279 @ € 32.40
Value: €365,440

Serco Group (SRP)
Director name: Mr Andrew Jenner
Amount sold: 55,614 @ 519.51p
Value: £288,920

Filtrona PLC (FLTR)
Director name: Mr Jon Green
Amount sold: 48,301 @ 440.00p
Value: £212,524

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