Shire chairman raises £1.5m from disposal

Matthew Emmens, the chairman of pharma company Shire, has raised nearly £1.5m from a share sale. Emmens sold 33,302 American Depositary Shares (ADSs) at an average price of $66.44. Each ADS is equivalent to three ordinary shares. The selling price was equivalent to £14.70 a share. Last week, Emmens made a profit of £2.16m from the sale of options. The share price has been strong since the US Food and Drug Administration granted marketing approval for VPRIV, a treatment for Gaucher disease, at the beginning of March. Emmens retains 92,874 Shares and 60,861 ADSs - equivalent to a total of 275,457 shares. Shire declared an interim dividend of 9.25 cents a share but the shares do not go ex-dividend until 10 March so Emmens will not be receiving the dividend on the shares he sold. Emmens was chief executive of Shire between 2003 and 2008, when he was appointed chairman. Shire reported a 2% decline in revenues to $2.69bn in 2009. Income after tax from continuing operations improved from $155.7m to $174.3m. In the first quarter of the current year Shire expects revenues and earnings to be behind those seen in the corresponding period of 2009, reflecting the generic competition to Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder drug Adderall XR. Top Director Buys GlobeOp Financial Services (GO.) Director name: Mr Edward Annunziato Amount purchased: 57,548 @ 250.00p Value: £143,870 Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) Director name: Mr Anthony Watson Amount purchased: 100,000 @ 53.09p Value: £53,090 Standard Chartered (STAN) Director name: Dr Han Seung-Soo Amount purchased: 2,000 @ 1,721.30p Value: £34,426 Booker Group (BOK) Director name: Mrs Karen Jones Amount purchased: 50,000 @ 44.00p Value: £22,000 Top Director Sells Shire Plc (SHP) Director name: Mr Matthew Emmens Amount sold: 99,906 @ 1,469.94p Value: £1,468,558 Telecity Group (TCY) Director name: Mr Brian McArthur Muscroft Amount sold: 349,995 @ 405.00p Value: £1,417,480 Schroder Asia Pacific Fund (SDP) Director name: The Rt. Ho the Earl of Cromer Amount sold: 75,000 @ 180.50p Value: £135,375 Keller Group (KLR) Director name: Mr Robert Rubright Amount sold: 4,982 @ 651.50p Value: £32,458 DS Smith (SMDS) Director name: Mr Stephen William Dryden Amount sold: 15,820 @ 125.40p Value: £19,838