Andy McCue joins Hostelworld directors in buying stock

Hostelworld non-executive director Andy McCue, former chief executive of Paddy Power, has joined other directors in buying shares in the travel website company after a slump last week.

Mr McCue bought almost £45,400 (€59, 135) on 25,000 shares in Hotelworld on Friday, according to a regulatory filing on Wednesday morning, after the stock slumped by as much as a third on Thursday after a weak trading update.

It follows on from disclosures yesterday that Hostelworld chief executive Feargal Mooney spent £151,410 buying 84,000 shares in the London market, while chief technology officer John O'Donnell acquired 30,000 each at a slightly higher price of £1.814 each, costing him £54,420.

Shares in Hostelworld plunged by as much as 33 per cent on Thursday when the company reported weaker-than-expected demand across Europe in the aftermath of the Paris and Brussels terrorist attacks.

It made the statement ahead of the company’s first annual general meeting as a public company, in Dublin.