It’s always disconcerting for existing investors when company directors sell shares. Never mind that they may be perfectly within their rights — an onerous tax bill looms, say — it invariably sparks the worry that they know or sense bad news coming and are taking steps to relieve the personal hit in advance.
In the case of Berkeley Group, the founding chairman, chief executive and a couple of independent directors have all offloaded stock within the past three months. Most notably, Tony Pidgley, the 72-year-old founding chairman, and Robert Perrins, 54, the chief executive, have sold meaningful amounts of shares since late July.
In fairness to the selling directors at Berkeley, they still retain substantial shareholdings; Mr Pidgley and Mr Perrins have worked for the
