Manager denies insider trading

A senior manager at a publicly-listed company sold a significant number of shares once he knew their value was going to drop, despite being banned from doing so, a court heard today.

Neil Rollins, 46, of Keighley, West Yorks, has denied five counts of insider trading and denied four counts of money laundering.

The alleged offences were committed between August 22 2006 and November 28 2006 while he was a senior manager at the waste disposal group PM Group, Southwark Crown Court heard.

He has since been dismissed from the company, the court was told.

Rollins was in possession of 90,000 shares in the PM Group, which he disposed of on the London Stock Exchange after learning the company's sales were down, it was alleged.

Tony Shaw, prosecuting, said PM Group's troubles began some time after March 2006, but were not evident when the company released its half yearly results, because its newly acquired arm, Pitts Wilson Electricals was doing reasonably well.

He said: "That hid an underlying trend for PM On Board."

He added that employees, including Rollins, were privy to information that sales were falling and that staff redundancies were planned.

While they were banned from trading shares before the information became publicly available, "that did not stop Mr Rollins from selling during that period," Mr Shaw said.

"He sold all of them. He avoided losses by selling what he shouldn't have," he said.

The court heard Rollins had transferred £120,000, allegedly the proceeds of his crime, into a Barclays Bank account in the name of David Rollins.

The money was transferred between November 24 2006 and November 28 2006, the court heard.

The trial continues.