WH Ireland’s head of wealth Stephen Ford (pictured) is building up his stake in the wealth management business as he continues to help it along the road to recovery.
Ford and his wife, Joanna, purchased £22,000 worth of shares each between 21 and 24 June, a regulatory filing on Tuesday showed. The pair both purchased 29,077 shares at 50p, 7,500 at 47p and 8,250 at 44p.
Ford now owns around 265,675 or £127,000 shares in the 200-year-old broker and wealth manager, representing a 0.61% stake.
Hedge fund firms Polygon Global Partners and Oceanwood Capital Management remain the biggest backers of the business, owning 29.72% and 24.08% respectively, followed by M&G Investments which owns 14.19% of the company.
Ford was brought on board to revitalise WH Ireland and to bring the business back into the black, something which senior bosses, CEO Richard Killingbeck and his predecessor Roddy Buchanan, were unable to achieve after five years.
Under Ford, CEO Phillip Wale and finance director Philip Tansey the firm has undergone some major restructuring, resulting in a smattering of redundancies.
Shares in the group are still down 26% year-to-date at 46p though this is an improvement from its low of 39p after its shares crashed following a profit warning.
