DIRECTORS at the Restaurant Group, owners of Frankie & Benny’s and Garfunkel’s, bought more shares in the catering chain last week. Andrew Page, the chief executive, bought 100,000 for £140,000, or 140p each, lifting his stake to 417,485 shares, a 0.21% stake.

The previous Friday he bought 47,319 at just over 147p each. Kevin Bacon, managing director for leisure, bought 30,000 at 136.6p a go on Thursday, lifting his stake to 179,041 shares. Trish Corzine, managing director for airport operations, took 11,123 at 137.25p and now has 132,466 shares.

Bacon and Corzine also bought into Restaurant the previous Friday, taking stakes of 23,908 shares and 20,920 respectively.

Shares in the company lost about a quarter of their value on March 5 after it said sales growth slowed in the three months to December 31.

Like-for-like sales growth in the fourth quarter was a percentage point less than the 7% seen last year, compared with the “very strong” like-for-like sales performance in the first three quarters.

However, Restaurant said it was able to maintain growth amid difficult conditions. It said: “Against a background of more demanding comparatives for the final quarter and a tighter consumer market, the group achieved growth for each month from October to December.”

- BOSSES at Cable & Wireless spent more than £600,000 on the firm’s shares on Monday.

John Pluthero, the chairman, bought 160,000 at 148.5p each, paying a total of £237,600 and lifting his stake to just over 1.6m shares. Tony Rice, the finance boss, splashed out £375,000 on 250,000 at 150p each, boosting his holding to just over 3.5m shares.

Last week the company set growth targets for the next five years in its Europe, Asia and American business, aiming for revenue growth of 5%-8% a year and Ebitda growth of 20%-25%.

Directors have in-depth knowledge of their businesses, so it can pay to track their moves. Every week Digitallook.com reveals the bosses who have bought or sold big stakes

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