Deputy chairman Richard Murray is buying shares in Avesco Group at a time when there is stake building by an investment company.

Taya Investment Company increased its stake in the broadcast and presentation equipment supplier and renter to 26.6% last month. Taya has been building up this stake in recent months but it has stated that it has no immediate intention of bidding for Avesco. Some of the stake has been acquired at 50p a share.

Murray has acquired 300,592 shares at 45.21p each - an investment of nearly £128,000. This is higher than the market price and takes his stake to 19.98%. That makes him the second largest shareholder after Taya.

Chief executive Ian Martin bought 30,000 shares at 43p each at the end of March, taking his stake to 2.7%.

Murray founded Avesco and floated it on the USM in 1984. It moved to the Main Market in 1988 and subsequently spun off chips developer Imagination Technologies. Avesco moved to AIM in 2004.

Murray is chairman of Charlton Athletic Football Club and is a director of Welsh Industrial Investment Trust, where shareholders have voted today to wind the company up. Welsh Industrial IT has been a shareholder in Avesco in the past.

Avesco Group says that it expects to trade profitably this year and generate cash. At the AGM in March, chief executive Ian Martin said that the Winter Olympics at Vancouver was successful for Avesco, which already has contracts for the FIFA World Cup and World Expo in Shanghai.

A loss of £13.2m was reported for the year to September 2009. Net debt is expected to fall by £10m to £11m at the end of September 2010.

Avesco's market value is around one-third of its underlying net asset value.

Top Director Buys

Valiant Petroleum (VPP)
Director name: Mr Steven Edgley
Amount purchased: 40,000 @ 656.75p
Value: £262,700

Avesco Group (AVS)
Director name: Mr Richard A Murray-Obodynski
Amount purchased: 300,592 @ 42.51p
Value: £127,782

VinaCapital Vietnam Opportunity Fund Ltd. (VOF)
Director name: Mr Michael Grenville Gray
Amount purchased: 30,000 @ $1.57
Value: $47,100

Oxus Gold (OXS)
Director name: Mr Richard B Shead
Amount purchased: 311,296 @ 8.03p
Value: £24,997

F&C Inv Trust (FRCL)
Director name: Sir Roger Bone
Amount purchased: 8,599 @ 288.70p
Value: £24,825

Anglo American (AAL)
Director name: Sir John Parker
Amount purchased: 867 @ 2,765.35p
Value: £23,976

Bunzl (BNZL)
Director name: Mr Patrick Larmon
Amount purchased: 1,360 @ 614.30p
Value: £8,354

Anglo and Overseas Trust (AOT)
Director name: Mr John Pearmund
Amount purchased: 9,910 @ 102.40p
Value: £10,148


Top Director Sells

Western Coal Corp. (WTN)
Director name: Mr John J Byrne
Amount sold: 757,752 @ 390.40p
Value: £2,958,264

Western Coal Corp. (WTN)
Director name: Mr John J Conlon
Amount sold: 150,000 @ 404.15p
Value: £606,225

Valiant Petroleum (VPP)
Director name: Mr Steven Edgley
Amount sold: 140,000 @ 600.00p
Value: £840,000

JKX Oil & Gas (JKX)
Director name: Mr Bruce James Burrows
Amount sold: 200,000 @ 280.00p
Value: £560,000

AG Barr (BAG)
Director name: Mr Alex B C Short
Amount sold: 21,424 @ 888.90p
Value: £190,438

Hill and Smith (HILS)
Director name: Mr Derek W Muir
Amount sold: 4,200 @ 340.00p
Value: £14,280

VP (VP.)
Director name: Mr Neil A Stothard
Amount sold: 7,400 @ 177.00p
Value: £13,098

Related share prices
Anglo American (AAL) share price
Bunzl (BNZL) share price
Foreign and Colonial Inv Trust (FRCL) share price
Anglo & Overseas (AOT) share price
Avesco Group (AVS) share price
AG Barr (BAG) share price
Hill & Smith Holdings (HILS) share price
JKX Oil & Gas (JKX) share price
VP (VP.) share price
Oxus Gold (OXS) share price
VinaCapital Vietnam Opportunity Fund Ltd. (VOF) share price
Western Coal Corp. (WTN) share price
Valiant Petroleum (VPP) share price