Insider: CEO of the Year banks huge profit on £1.7m sale

The UK stock market's CEO of the Year has capitalised on his success at the helm of Galliford Try Holdings (LSE:GFRD) by selling £1.7 million of shares for double their price of just 18 months ago.

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Bill Hocking has overseen six consecutive years of growth since Galliford Try offloaded its Linden Homes and Partnerships operations to Vistry Group (LSE:VTY) at the start of 2020.

With a focus on areas including health, water, education and defence, the construction and infrastructure firm's £4.3 billion order book is 95% in regulated and public sectors.

Adjusted profit recently jumped 24.2% to £55.9 million for the year to 30 June, which compares with £12.4 million in 2021. Over those six years, revenues have risen from £1.1 billion to £1.9 billion and the divisional adjusted operating margin from 2% to 3.5%.

Galliford expects further progress in 2027 as it sets about delivering its 2030 ambition of growing revenues to at least £2.2 billion and the margin to 4%.

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The success has resulted in a total shareholder return of more than 400% since July 2020 and secured Hocking the title of CEO of the Year after the 2026 plc Awards recognised him as the standout leader among FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 constituents.

Galliford Try was also a finalist in the Company of the Year category after showing that “success is not a short-term phenomenon”.

The FTSE 250-listed stock topped 700p for the first time in the aftermath of the annual results before Hocking sold 250,000 shares on Thursday at a price of 672p.

He remains a substantial shareholder based on the annual report's disclosure of 1.3 million directly owned shares and a total of 2.2 million when including unvested awards.

City analysts, meanwhile, have backed the FTSE 250-listed shares to continue their run after Berenberg and Peel Hunt upped their price targets to 750p in the wake of the results.

Panmure Liberum is at 735p, believing that Galliford's valuation multiple in line with contracting peers at 14.1 times 2027 earnings failed to reflect the value of the group's substantial net cash position and investments portfolio.

Berenberg, which recently lifted its earnings forecasts for 2027-29 by 5% on average, added: “We expect the group to increasingly deploy capital to drive further earnings per share growth, whether through M&A, organic investment or shareholder returns.”

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Galliford demonstrated its confidence in the outlook and underlying cash generation by announcing a new £15 million share buyback, its fourth such programme after one worth £10 million concluded in April.

It plans to distribute a final dividend of 17p per share on 4 December, lifting the total for 2025/26 by 23.7% to 23.5p covered 1.8 times by earnings. The shares trade with a prospective dividend yield of 4.1%, based on Panmure Liberum forecasts.

Will everything be rosy again?

A £500,000 Rosebank Industries  Ordinary Shares (LSE:ROSE) stake has been acquired by one of its leading directors after the “Buy, Improve, Sell” business lost 15% of its value in the space of two months.

Last week's purchase by chief operating officer Liam Butterworth took place at 309.7p, which compares with 370p when Rosebank joined the main market on 1 May and 330p in a March equity raise.

That £1.9 billion fundraising helped to pay for May’s $2.1 billion (£1.6 billion) acquisition of CPM, whose processing equipment is used in oilseed, animal feed production and renewable energy, and a separate $950 million deal for MW Components.

The deals followed the August 2025 acquisition of US-based Electrical Components International (ECI), which represented the first step in Rosebank's strategy of targeting the improvement of underperforming industrial businesses.

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Rosebank is aiming to repeat the success of GKN Aerospace owner Melrose Industries, which in the 19 years after its first deal in 2005 returned £8.3 billion to its shareholders.

Half-year results at the start of September showed early progress towards Rosebank's plan to double shareholders' investment over a three-to-five-year timeframe. Its targets include operating margin expansion of 6–7 percentage points at the two newest businesses.

Adjusted operating profit of $110 million came in ahead of City expectations, while net debt of just under $1.1 billion was much better than hoped. Shareholders received a maiden interim dividend of 2.1 US cents a share, which was paid on 9 October.

City firm Berenberg upgraded its earnings per share forecast by 3.9% following September's results, having also raised its guidance in July.

The bank reiterated its price target of 450p and noted that a price of 329p was an attractive entry point for investors, who at the time included senior independent director Christopher Miller after he bought £1.4 million of shares at 334.6p.

Shares have since come under pressure after the US Federal Reserve raised interest rates on 16 September and inflation figures boosted the chances of another hike before the year-end.

The monetary policy outlook has added to concerns over ECI’s US domestic appliance exposure and the impact of a weak US housing market.

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However, chief executive Simon Peckham said in September that he was “very happy” with the speed of progress at all of the businesses.

He added: “ECI has coped very well with the short-term weaker market in North American Appliance, but has still grown profit and significantly improved its margins.”

Peckham, who was one of the three original Melrose co-founders, added that Rosebank was pleased to have such a concentrated exposure to the US economy “which we believe will serve us well in the months and years to come”.