BG has been a star performer among the giant oil and gas companies, thanks to its stake in the huge oil finds being made offshore Brazil and its finance director has decided to take profits on his stake in the company.

Barely a week goes by without any new discovery in the Santos basin, with BG's own reserves in the region now said to be in excess of 10bn barrels.

The oil group's share price reflects the goods news, having nearly quadrupled over the past seven years.

Given the run of good drilling news, it is perhaps not surprising that BG directors are infrequent sellers.

Finance director Ashley Almanza, though, has decided to cash in some chips, raising £5.3m through a combined sale with his wife of 350,000 shares at £15.192 each.

Almanza's previous sale was a batch of 86,000 shares last September. The price he received then was about £10.73, some 30% lower and indicating how well BG has done with its Brazil investment in the meantime.

Following this latest sale Almanza holds 126,012 BG shares.

He would have done even better if he had managed to complete Thursday's share sale a day earlier as BG was one of main casualties of the Chancellor's raid on North Sea oil companies.

The government decided to increase the tax paid on North Sea oil and gas production to subsidise a 1p a litre cut in fuel duty. Analysts suggest BG Group will be among the most impacted as the North Sea accounts for almost one-quarter of total operations.


Top Director Buys

British Land Co (BLND)
Director name: Mr Simon Borrows
Amount purchased: 300,000 @ 565.80p
Value: £1,697,400

PureCircle Ltd. (DI) (PURE)
Director name: Mr Magomet Malsagov
Amount purchased: 200,000 @ 108.00p
Value: £216,000

Coral Products (CRU)
Director name: Mr Joseph Grimmond
Amount purchased: 830,000 @ 11.04p
Value: £91,632

Leni Gas & Oil (LGO)
Director name: Mr Neil Ritson
Amount purchased: 2,500,000 @ 2.70p
Value: £67,500

Cable & Wireless Worldwide (CW.)
Director name: Mr John Pluthero
Amount purchased: 100,000 @ 54.48p
Value: £54,480

Marston's (MARS)
Director name: Mr Robin Rowland
Amount purchased: 52,083 @ 96.00p
Value: £50,000

Quayle Munro Holdings (QYM)
Director name: Mr Andrew M. L. Tuckey
Amount purchased: 7,500 @ 650.00p
Value: £48,750

Octopus Second AIM VCT (OSEC)
Director name: Mr Keith Richard Mullins
Amount purchased: 54,548 @ 73.33p
Value: £40,000

John Menzies (MNZS)
Director name: Mr Craig Smyth
Amount purchased: 6,061 @ 485.50p
Value: £29,426

John Menzies (MNZS)
Director name: Mr Craig Smyth
Amount purchased: 6,055 @ 485.50p
Value: £29,397


Top Director Sells

BG Group (BG.)
Director name: Mr Ashley Almanza
Amount sold: 350,000 @ 1,519.20p
Value: £5,317,200

Lo-Q (LOQ)
Director name: Mr Leonard Sim
Amount sold: 1,000,000 @ 154.00p
Value: £1,540,000

Software Radio Technology (SRT)
Director name: Mr Simon Francis Rogers
Amount sold: 600,000 @ 39.50p
Value: £237,000

Henderson Group (HGG)
Director name: Mr Shirley Garrood
Amount sold: 50,000 @ 165.62p
Value: £82,810

Artemis Alpha Trust (ATS)
Director name: Mr Andrew Dalrymple
Amount sold: 11,000 @ 319.00p
Value: £35,090

Trinity Mirror (TNI)
Director name: Mrs Sylvia (Sly) Bailey
Amount sold: 58,737 @ 46.75p
Value: £27,460

John Menzies (MNZS)
Director name: Mr Paul B Dollman
Amount sold: 4,337 @ 481.00p
Value: £20,861

John Menzies (MNZS)
Director name: Mr Craig Smyth
Amount sold: 3,763 @ 481.00p
Value: £18,100

Trinity Mirror (TNI)
Director name: Mr Vijay Vaghela
Amount sold: 30,514 @ 46.75p
Value: £14,265

Related share prices
BG Group (BG.) share price
British Land Co (BLND) share price
Trinity Mirror (TNI) share price
Marston's (MARS) share price
Coral Products (CRU) share price
Menzies(John) (MNZS) share price
Artemis Alpha Trust (ATS) share price
Quayle Munro Holdings (QYM) share price
Lo-Q (LOQ) share price
Software Radio Technology (SRT) share price
Leni Gas & Oil (LGO) share price
PureCircle Ltd. (DI) (PURE) share price
Cable & Wireless Worldwide (CW.) share price
Octopus Second AIM VCT (OSEC) share price