Berkeley Group’s share price looks up as Tony Pidgley spends £800,000 on shares
Berkeley Group's share price went up this morning after it emerged the company's chairman, Tony Pidgley, had bought another five per cent of the firm's shares for just under £800,000.
In a statement this morning the company said Pidgley has bought 35,061 shares, a 4.7 per cent stake, at £22.69 a share yesterday, its share price plummeted.
Director Glyn Barker bought 3,000 shares at £22.40 – worth about 67,200 – for his wife.
The group's shares were up 4.5 per cent in early morning trading after the news.
Berkeley Group's shares plunged yesterday, falling over nine per cent.
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Shares in all the FTSE 100-listed housebuilders were temporarily suspended yesterday as they triggered the London Stock Exchange's circuit breaker by falling over eight per cent on their opening price.
Housebuilders' share prices have took an immediate hit after the UK voted to leave the EU; on the morning after the referendum, shares in Berkeley Group fell 26.9 per cent, while shares in Taylor Wimpey lost a third of their value, and Persimmon's shares fell 27.5 per cent. Barratt's share price fell by a fifth.
Pidgley came out strongly in favour of the UK remaining in the UK earlier this month, saying the outcome of the EU referendum would be "significant for the UK's housebuilding and property sector."
Anthony Codling, equity analyst at Jefferies international, said Berkeley has a particularly high London exposure and that the "fundamentals of the London housing market remain strong".
Berkeley Group did not comment.