Hello Dell: Long time no speak - is the monkey okay? I would agree with M&C that there would appear to be no reason why directors can't buy mt. right now. Certainly the strategic review would IMHO be no bar to them dealing, it is a vague open-ended process that any company could claim to be engaged in at almost anytime, although I can't quote chapter & verse on this off the top of my head.
Lisa is right that markets in general rallied sharply once the Gulf War broke out as people realised it was going to be a cake walk. However the irony is that one of the big operators (International Leisure Gp run by Harry Goodman, from memory) failed which allowed a certain company called Airtours to expand rapidly as it picked up a lot of the business. I'm not sure how much comfort that parallel provides for mt. holders now.
As ever I must declare my interest (to comply with the Anti-Deramping Bill of 2002) that I hold FCD and have no interest in MT. Happy New Year to all holders.