Hostelworld chiefs snap up shares after slump

Travel website company Hostelworld executives mopped up almost €270,000 of shares in the market after it stock slumped by as much as a third on Thursday after a weak trading update.

Chief executive Feargal Mooney spent £151,410 (€198,481) buying 84,000 shares in the London market at £1.8025 each, according to a market filing published in Tuesday.

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.

Hostelworld shares rose 1.1 per cent to £1.82 in early trading in London on Tuesday, as traders returned from a long weekend break.