THE boss of Clitheroe-based Ultraframe has spent £20,000 in shares in his own company at the end of a week that saw almost £100 million wiped off the value of the company.

Chief executive David Moore bought 8,500 shares at a price of £2.34 per share, taking his family's interest in the conservatory roof manufacturer to a total of more than 1.5 million shares.

Over the week, the value of the Moore family's shares in Ultraframe fell by almost £1.5 million.

Mr Moore owns 1,019,844 shares and his spouse has 512,900.

Ultraframe's share price collapsed by nearly 30 per cent after the company surprised the City with its second profits warning in six months.

It warned the Stock Exchange that profits for the full year were likely to fall to £25.3 million - about £2 million below market expectations.

At the end of August, Ultraframe shares were trading at £3.28. After the profits warning, the shares lost 96p in value to a low of £2.32.

The share price collapse came as a blow to many of Ultraframe's 600 employees who bought shares in the company when it floated on the Stock Exchange in 1996.

For years, Ultraframe was a darling of the market and its share price rose to a peak of more than £6 a share last summer.

For the workers who held on to their shares, they will have seen the value of their holding drop by more than half within 12 months.