Market Report: Taking Stock

The chairman, Neville Abraham, and deputy chairman, Laurence Isaacson, of Groupe Chez Gerard, the restaurants business, have each made pounds 1.2m by selling 425,000 shares. They said yesterday they had sold in response to "strong demand from new institutional investors". The shares remained unchanged at 276.5p.

The board of Merchant Retail Group, owner of the Perfume Shop and Joplings, has snapped up 475,000 shares over the last three days. The stock closed up 1p yesterday at 29.5p. The group recently released better than expected interim profits, but still made a loss of pounds 170,000 before tax, after the cost of opening new Perfume Shop outlets. The house broker, Charterhouse Tilney Securities, issued a buy note earlier this week.