It was a bizarre week for consulting engineer White Young Green: the graph shows it was by far the biggest climber in the construction sector

In fact, the share price rose 155% to 23p last Thursday amid denials of takeover rumours. The following day it was up another 71% on the news Paul Hamer, its chief executive, had bought £10,000-worth of his own shares. Financial director David Wilton splashed out more than £13k, as did chairman Brian Duckworth.

Then on Monday we learned directors had set themselves a share price target of 60p by 2012 to trigger share bonuses.

What are we to make of it all?

One City watcher said Thursday’s jump could have been caused by a stampede to snap up stocks that were undervalued and likely to recover quickly as the recession eases. “An 8p share price earlier this month was ridiculous,” he said.

Another said of the directors’ deals: “You wouldn’t do that if you thought the company was going under, would you?”

And the 60p incentive plan? Although one analyst said it could be a case of management trying to “fill their boots”, the target was apparently set when the price was 6p. Kind souls would say management was not as greedy as it might appear.

Downloads