Sunday newspaper share tips

By THIS IS MONEY
Updated:

 

EACH weekend, This Is Money brings you a round-up of shares being recommended in the Sunday City pages. Click here for the Mail on Sunday's Midas column. Below are tips from other newspapers that published tips.

Use the Companies links on the left of this page to view our interactive share graphs and full archive of news and stock market announcements. Click here for our new Tips & Tactics section.

Sunday Telegraph

Babcock International (116p), the former shipbuilder turned support services company, last week won a £450m seven-year deal from the MoD and announced the sale of its engineering business, BHM Marine. Analysts are impressed at the successful restructuring of the company. Shares hit a year low of 86p and have recovered strongly but the paper believes they have further to go.

Galliford Try (44p), the housebuilding group, has beaten off a 54p-a-share takeover bid from rival Rok Property Solutions, leaving the door open to higher bids or a fresh demonstration from management that the business has real momentum. the construction arm appears to be recovering and £100m of new contracts are due to be revealed this week. It's not cheap but the shares are a recovery gamble: keep tucking away.

Shares in shipping group James Fisher have more than doubled in 18 months but the marine services division is still racing ahead and the shares are trading on a forward price/earnings ratio of just eight: keep buying.

Peter Hambro mining (326 1/2p) is one of the few companies in recent times to have successfully started gold production from a greenfield site and is developing new prospects in far east Russia. A recent dip in the share price, a round of institutional presentations by management and a price target from HSBC of 425p make the company, says the paper, a buy.

If a a 255p-a-share offer from Morgan Stanley for Canary Wharf is rejected and no other bid materialises, the shares (244p) will slump to well below 200p. The safest option is to bail out now.

Shares in music group EMI have risen to 177p from 136p last year. But plans to merge with Warner Music may attract attention from US and European competition authorities following plans by Sony and Bertelsmann to combine their music divisions - reducing the number of music majors from five to three. The increasing uncertainty means it is sensible to take profits. Sell.

Sunday Express

Punch Taverns will become the largest pub operator in the UK following the £1.19 billion acquisition of Pubmaster. It expects to achieve annual synergies of £10 million and the deal offers opportunities to raise Pubmaster's revenues through higher investment and stronger operational management. Investment bank Arbuthnot considers 470p a realistic share price. Buy at 396p.

Although first half results were in line with expectations, high street chemist Boots' dividend growth was just 4.8%. A cautious statement reflects fears of a competitive Christmas. As costs are set to grow at a faster rate in the second half, Boots is a sell at 712p.

IT service provider Kewill Systems saw interim pre-tax profit of £500,000, up from a loss of £3.9 million a year ago. The company is confident of growth in the US and Europe and says it is well placed for the longer term. Buy at 611p.

Logistics company Wincanton reported lower volumes and operating efficiency in its first-half trading statement. It is well priced compared with rivals at 184p. Buy before November 27 when the company will announce future contracts.

Independent on Sunday

Analysts expect 7% profit growth from Associated British Foods. At 572p the shares trade on an earnings multiple of 12.6 times, falling to 11.8 times next year. This looks attractive for a solid cash-generative, business with unparalleled financial strength and brands with decent growth potential. But the value could look even cheaper if the company spends its £1.2 billion cash pile wisely.

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