The stocks and shares the British press is tipping – and recommending you avoid – this week.
Three to buy
Conviviality
Investors Chronicle
Shares in the company behind the off-licence chain Bargain Booze have big potential. After buying up several rivals, including wine distributor Bibendum, Conviviality could grow into a major alcohol wholesaler, supplying both the on- and off-trade sectors. The forecast dividend yield looks attractive at 4.3%. 196p
Halma
The Times
Halma, the Buckinghamshire-based technology firm that specialises in hazard detectors, from fire alarms to pregnancy scanners, has raised its dividend by at least 5% for 37 years. It is deal-hungry, spending more than £200m on acquisitions last year, swallowing a US digital firm. Organic growth on top was 6% last year. The shares are far from cheap on 25 times earnings, but deserve the premium. 933p
Pets at Home
Shares
“Snap up” shares in the pet accessory firm, says Shares. Pets at Home is now also the biggest small-animal veterinary firm in the UK, offering “resilient growth” in a fragmented market. It has raised its dividend pay-out policy and also plans to return excess cash as special dividends. 235p
Three to sell
Berkeley Group
The Daily Telegraph
Berkeley, the luxury London flat builder, has reported record results and has pledged to return £2m a year to investors in dividends over the next five years. But “cracks” are appearing. The property cycle looks like it has reached its peak and average prices in London are now falling. The forward price-earnings ratio is just eight, but that assumes a big jump in earnings. 2,954p
Circassia Pharmaceuticals
The Sunday Times
The allergy-treatment developer listed on the stock exchange at a price of 310p two years ago, in one of the market’s biggest public floats. But progress at the company has been slow and too much of its value rides on results due from trials of its cat-allergy drug. Disappointment could herald a major sell-off in the shares, if not the biotech sector more broadly. 270p
Servelec
Investors Chronicle
Dwindling NHS budgets have delayed orders at software specialist Servelec and its shares have “tanked”. Orders anticipated for its technology division, which are linked to regulatory changes in the water sector, have also failed to materialise. The number of acquisitions made by management only adds to concerns. It’s now time to bail out of the shares. 227p
And the rest
| Buys | |
|---|---|
| Ashtead Group | Shares in the tool-hire firm are cheap and it plans share buybacks (Times) 986p |
| BCA Marketplace | Europe’s car auctioneer is generating surplus cash (Investors Chronicle) 177p |
| Belvoir Lettings | The UK’s biggest franchise letting agency is resilient and yields 6% (Mail) 122p |
| Consort Medical | The shares in this maker of drug delivery devices look cheap (Times) 941p |
| FirstGroup | The rail and bus firm is on track despite losing two franchises (Inv. Chr.) 114p |
| GB Group | The security firm’s shares are worth holding despite the CEO leaving (Shares) 285p |
| PureCircle | The market for natural sweeteners is growing strongly (Inv. Chr.) 343p |
| Safestore | Occupancy is low at the self-storage firm, giving it room to grow (Times) 350p |
| Sierra Rutile | Rutile prices are stabilising and the firm’s output is ramping up (Inv. Chr.) 22p |
| SQS | Two US acquisitions have bolstered the software firm’s position (Shares) 442p |
| UBM | The exhibitions specialist is paying a juicy special dividend (Times) 560p |
| Wincanton | The logistics provider could be a takeover target (Telegraph) 187p |
Directors’ dealings
Simon Silver, a co-founder of upmarket office developer Derwent London, has sold 30,000 shares in the company, pocketing just under £1m. Silver, who set up the business more than 30 years ago, retains 213,617 shares, worth around £7m (0.192% of the company).
Shares in Derwent, which has more than six million square feet of high-end office space in central London, have bounced around this year along with other companies in the commercial property sector, as EU referendum polls have swung from side to side. Derwent’s property portfolio in London is valued at £5bn, leaving it heavily exposed to the capital’s commercial property market. Some analysts expect London property to suffer if the UK votes to leave the EU.
A German view
Infineon Technologies is Europe’s biggest semiconductor maker, and appears to have its fingers in all the right pies. It already makes half its sales – set to hit €6.5bn this year – in the fast-growing Asian market, where its Chinese business looks especially promising. The advent of electric vehicles is a major opportunity, notes Wirtschaftswoche, as electric and hybrid cars contain chips worth around $700 a car.
Beijing aims to increase the number of electric vehicles in China by 700,000 this year. Infineon’s chips are also required for the photovoltaic cells that capture solar energy, and are central to the emergence of the “internet of things”, whereby everyday objects such as cars and appliances are being automated and connected.