Insider: chiefs spend millions on these FTSE 100 shares

The bosses of AstraZeneca (LSE:AZN) and Smiths Group (LSE:SMIN) have backed up last week’s upgrades to full-year guidance by spending significant sums on their FTSE 100-listed shares.

Astra’s chief executive Pascal Soriot bought £2 million of Astra stock and his chair Michel Demaré £200,000, while the top two directors of Smiths disclosed investments of more than £450,000.

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Their moves followed the City’s contrasting reaction to the new full-year estimates.

Smiths shares surged as much as 14%, meaning that new chief executive Roland Carter and chair Steve Williams bought their shares on Wednesday at prices between 1,688p and 1,698p rather than Tuesday’s level of 1,529p.

Shares had been under pressure heading into the AGM trading update, falling from September’s near record level of 1,820p.

A stronger-than-expected start to the financial year included revenue growth of 15.8% in the first quarter, with “particularly strong” trading in the airport scanners business and a “stand-out” performance by Smiths Interconnect.

The conglomerate now expects annual revenues growth in the range of 5-7% alongside a stronger margin. The London-based company increased its share buyback programme by £50 million, having decided not to undertake a medium-sized acquisition.

Broker Stifel, which has a price target of 2,150p said: “We consider this an impressive update, which should be clearly positive to a share price that has been languishing.”

It pointed out that Smiths looks well-placed for the new geopolitical realities, given its low exposure to China, large dollar earnings and sizeable hydrocarbon end markets.

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Astra also upgraded in its third-quarter results after forecasting annual high-teens percentage growth in revenue and earnings per share compared with the mid-teens seen previously.

Sales growth of 20% in the quarter came in 4% higher than forecast, driven by asthma product Symbicort and oncology treatment Tagrisso.

Despite the momentum, the shares finished a choppy week barely changed at 9,949p. That’s despite the company also setting out plans for $3.5 billion of investment in the United States as it looks to achieve a target of $80 billion of revenues by 2030.

Soriot bought his shares on Thursday at 10,203p before Demaré made his purchase the following day at a much cheaper price of 10,030p. Non-executive Philip Broadley also spent £100,000 at a price of 10,170p on Wednesday.

As well as uncertainty caused by an investigation by Chinese authorities into current and former staff, the mood towards Astra and other pharma stocks including GSK was hit on Friday by Donald Trump’s nomination of vaccine-sceptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr as health secretary.

UBS continues to have a Sell recommendation and price target of 9,985p, while in the Buy camp Goldman Sachs has an estimate of 15,955p.

Bank of America, which is at 14,500p, said a valuation of 14 times forecast 2025 earnings looked attractive. It added: “We believe the share price move on China concerns is overdone, and coming quarters giving evidence of limited business impact should reassure investors.”

A big spending bowler

A long-serving director of FTSE 250-listed Hollywood Bowl Group (LSE:BOWL) has spent £320,000 topping up his stake in the ten-pin bowling operator.

Leisure industry veteran Peter Boddy joined the group as non-executive chairman in 2014, two years before its private equity owner floated the business on the stock market.

Alongside chief executive Stephen Burns, Boddy has overseen the company’s expansion from a portfolio of 54 sites at the IPO to one now boasting 72 UK outlets and 13 in Canada.

Shares have risen from an initial 160p to Friday evening’s 322p, a performance fuelled by the interest of income investors in the highly cash generative business model.

A special dividend of 2.73p a share formed part of £25 million of distributions in 2022/23, while in July shareholders received an interim award 21.7% higher at 3.97p. The 4% yielding Hollywood recently pledged to pay 55% of adjusted profit compared with 50% previously.

The trend of competitive socialising continues to underpin its trading, with half-year revenues up 8.1% to £119.2 million and underlying earnings ahead by 10% to £38.6 million.

An update issued last month ahead of annual results on 17 December forecast an earnings figure of at least £65 million, more than the City had expected.

It pointed out that it is well insulated to ongoing cost pressures, with over 70% of revenue not subject to cost-of-goods inflation.

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Shares were 338p following that update, but have since fallen back amid pressure on the hospitality sector caused by rising employment costs in the Budget.

Boddy, who is nearing the end of his recommended nine-year tenure on the board, bought his latest batch of 100,000 shares on Wednesday at a price of 320p.

Analysts at Berenberg have a target of 420p, believing that a strong balance sheet should continue to support shareholder returns.

They added: “With its leading position in the UK and the growth opportunities available to it in Canada, as well as the continued cash flow generation of the business, we remain confident in the outlook.”