Director dealings: Share bid to bolster InterQuest investment IT STAFFING specialist Inter­Quest recently said investment in the long-term potential of the business has been at the expense of short-term profitability in the first half of the year. The recruitment company said significant efforts to strengthen the business, ­including opening an office in Singapore, will begin to bear fruit in the second half of the financial year and ­beyond. "While such investment is not made lightly, we are confident that InterQuest is building a platform for improved organic growth in the future," said executive chairman Gary Ashworth. Last week he demonstrated his own confidence in the company with the purchase of 18,000 shares at an average price of 38.9p each to increase his stake to 12.7 million shares. Shares in the company have fallen by around 18 per cent over the past year. Chris Gale, finance director of Allocate Software, has bought his first stake in the company with the purchase of 13,000 shares at 77.5p each. Earlier this month, the company said that new licence sales have been lower than expected during the first quarter of its financial year and that the timing will have a knock-on effect on implementation and support revenues in the current quarter. The board now expects that first-half revenues will be lower than its original expectations. Javier Del Ser, chief executive of construction materials group Steppe Cement has bought 650,000 ordinary shares at 25p each. He now holds almost 13 million shares in the group. Petroceltic, the oil and gas firm focused on North Africa, the Mediterranean and Black Sea regions said chief executive Brian O'Cathain has bought 500,000 shares at 7.05p to take his stake to 4.27 ­million. Martin Flower, a non-executive director at materials group Morgan Crucible, has bought 10,000 shares at 222.54p each to take his holding to 25,000 shares. Last week the company warned that trading conditions in many of its markets have worsened. Helena Geoghegan, wife of Martin Geoghegan, director of pubs group JD Wetherspoon, has sold 5,170 shares at 498.7p. The couple's holding is now 20,298 shares.