Director dealings: Smith family increases majority stake in Shoe Zone

(Sharecast News) - Among the director dealings disclosed to the market in London on Thursday were Shoe Zone's founding Smith family, which increased its majority holding in the footwear retailer, while two Character Group managing directors also bought shares in that company. Shoe Zone said chairman Charles Smith and Sian Smith jointly bought 1,226,237 ordinary shares on 19 May at 50p each, in a transaction worth about £613,119.

Anthony Smith, a director of Shoe Zone Retail and a PDMR, and Catherine Smith jointly bought a further 1,533,693 shares at the same price, worth about £766,847.

The purchases lifted Charles and Sian Smith's holding to 13,159,931 shares, representing 28.47% of Shoe Zone's total voting rights.

Anthony and Catherine Smith's holding rose to 16,460,250 shares, or 35.61%.

Shoe Zone said the Smith family's total holding increased to 29,620,181 shares, representing 64.08% of voting rights, from 26,860,251 shares, or 58.11%, previously.

The company said it had agreed with the Takeover Panel that no Rule 9 obligation would be triggered by the increase, given the family's existing holding of more than 50% and their close family connection.

Separately, Character Group said joint group managing director Jon Diver bought 1,666 shares on 18 May at 276p each through his personal pension plan, in a transaction worth about £4,598.

Following the purchase, Diver held 985,775 shares, representing about 5.66% of the toy and giftware group's issued voting share capital.

Character also said joint group managing director Kiran Shah bought 3,334 shares at the same price through his personal pension plan, for about £9,202.

Shah's resulting interest was 1,932,100 shares, or about 11.09% of the company's issued voting share capital.

At 1250 BST, shares in Shoe Zone were up 29.41% at 55p, while those in the Character Group were down 1.45% at 271p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.

Top Director Buys

Shoe Zone (SHOE) Director name: Smith ,John Charles Amount purchased: 1,533,693 @ 50.00p Value: £766,846.50

Shoe Zone (SHOE) Director name: Smith ,John Charles Amount purchased: 1,226,237 @ 50.00p Value: £613,118.50

Krm22 (KRM) Director name: Jones,Garry Amount purchased: 32,572 @ 30.70p Value: £9,999.60

The Character Group (CCT) Director name: Shah,Kirankumar Premshand Amount purchased: 3,334 @ 276.00p Value: £9,201.84

Foresight Environmental Infrastructure Limited (FGEN) Director name: Sood,Nadia Amount purchased: 6,796 @ 75.30p Value: £5,117.39

Krm22 (KRM) Director name: Jones,Garry Amount purchased: 16,666 @ 30.00p Value: £4,999.80

The Character Group (CCT) Director name: Diver,Jonathan James Amount purchased: 1,666 @ 276.00p Value: £4,598.16