LONDON (ShareCast) - Directors at Anite made a round of share purchases on Wednesday, the biggest of which was made by Chairman Clay Brendish and Non-Executive David Hurst-Brown.

Brenish acquired 28,250 shares at 91.00p, costing him a total of £25,708, while Hurst-Brown bought up 50,000 shares at 89.50p for a total of £44,750.

A further 27,250 shares were taken up by Paul Taylor and another 19,969 were bought by Patrick De Smedt, both also Non-Executives.

The acquisitions come two weeks after the wireless testing group warned sales and profits were being held back due to slower mobile handset testing activity.

Although management stressed that its order book had increased, it cautioned that first half revenues from handset testing were likely to be around 25% lower than the £40.5m produced in the comparative period last year and thus the unit would only achieve profit break-even in the period.

Chief Executive Christopher Humphrey said this was due to “unusual market conditions in the mobile industry” during the period and that it had not changed the board's fundamental view that demand drivers for its services remained in place.

He said Anite continued to be at “the early stage of the LTE [fourth generation, or 4G] technology rollout” and had not affected the board's confidence in the market opportunity and its market position.

"We believe that the second half for handset testing will be materially improved on the first half. We expect to exit the year on a strong underlying run rate which will allow us to continue to progress in the longer term."

A predicted improvement in the second half would not compensate for the first half shortfall, Anite acknowledged, with second half handset testing revenues expected to be broadly in line with the £46.5m achieved in the second half of 2012.



Top Director Buys

Tungsten Corporation (TUNG)
Director name: Mr Michael Alan Spencer
Amount purchased: 25,000 @ 225.75p
Value: £56,438

Forte Energy NL (FTE)
Director name: Mr Mark Reilly
Amount purchased: 12,500,000 @ 0.40p
Value: £50,000

Anite (AIE)
Director name: Mr David Hurst-Brown
Amount purchased: 50,000 @ 89.50p
Value: £44,750

Rurelec (RUR)
Director name: Mr Andrew J. S. Morris
Amount purchased: 337,700 @ 13.25p
Value: £44,745

Renewable Energy Generation Ltd. (WIND)
Director name: Mr Andrew Whalley
Amount purchased: 50,000 @ 78.40p
Value: £39,200

Anite (AIE)
Director name: Mr Clayton Brendish
Amount purchased: 28,250 @ 91.00p
Value: £25,708

Anite (AIE)
Director name: Mr Paul R Taylor
Amount purchased: 27,250 @ 91.00p
Value: £24,798

Anite (AIE)
Director name: Mr Patrick De Smedt
Amount purchased: 19,969 @ 89.62p
Value: £17,896


Top Director Sells

Netcall (NET)
Director name: Mr Henrik Bang
Amount sold: 2,000,000 @ 40.00p
Value: £800,000

Fidessa Group (FDSA)
Director name: Mr Andy Malpass
Amount sold: 25,000 @ 2,026.00p
Value: £506,500

Ricardo (RCDO)
Director name: Mr Dave Shemmans
Amount sold: 72,644 @ 600.74p
Value: £436,402

Fidessa Group (FDSA)
Director name: Mr Chris Aspinwall
Amount sold: 13,759 @ 2,026.00p
Value: £278,757

Central Asia Metals (CAML)
Director name: Mr Howard Nicholson
Amount sold: 158,173 @ 160.00p
Value: £253,077

Ricardo (RCDO)
Director name: Mr Mark Garrett
Amount sold: 16,521 @ 600.74p
Value: £99,248

Gresham House (GHE)
Director name: Mr Derek Lucie-Smith
Amount sold: 20,000 @ 312.00p
Value: £62,400

NR

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