7 October 1998: Shares in UK glass and building products group Pilkington Plc rose in recent trading, helped by favourable press comment and recent director buying of the stock.
Pilkington gained UK …
7 October 1998: Shares in UK glass and building products group Pilkington Plc rose in recent trading, helped by favourable press comment and recent director buying of the stock. Pilkington gained UK 5p or 9% at 61p, recovering from over five year lows set recently. Volume reached 1.3 million shares. Analysts said that Pilkington was likely to lift its profits to about UK 130 million in the current year, it had a strong balance sheet and that its dividend looked safe. The company reported a pre-tax, pre-exceptional profit of UK 125 million in the year to end-March 1998, however exceptional costs pushed it into an overall pre-tax loss of UK 100 million. Recent reports also said that Pilkington Chairman Sir Nigel Rudd, Finance Director Andrew Robb and the firm“s Chief Executive Warren Knowlten had bought several hundred thousand shares in recent weeks.