Directors of Manchester-based car dealership Lookers plc have bought up shares in the company just a few days after the firm’s share price plummeted after a profit warning.

The company’s chief executive, chief operating officer and a non-executive director of the company all snapped up shares.

Non-executive director Tony Bramall made the biggest purchase through his company Guernsey Investments Limited, spending about £1.6 million on more than four million shares.

This takes his stake in the company at 17.38%.

Chief executive Andy Bruce paid around £74,000 to buy 192,000 shares, while chief operating officer Nigel McMinn bought 200,000 shares for about £77,500.

Shares of Lookers fell 16% last Friday after it warned in a trading update its underlying profit before tax for the first half of the year is expected to fall to around £32 million compared to £43 million in the comparable period last year.

Lookers also warned that its current outlook for underlying profit before tax for the full year is now below its previous expectations.

The profit warning last Friday followed an announcement in late June that the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) intends to carry out an investigation into Lookers’ sales processes between January 1, 2016 and June 13, 2019, a development that sent the firm’s shares down about 25%.