Press tips: Helical Bar, Highland Gold, Barclays

By Sharecast, 14 February 2012

In the Times the Tempus column runs the rule over property firm Helical Bar and decides it does not really measure up.

In the last three months of last year 13 of the group's tenants went out of business or failed to renew their rents, cutting income by over £700,000, and there's the rub for investors with Helical Bar.

Its office blocks and retail spaces are not in high demand. Nor did it gamble during the downturn and buy up every available plot of land like some of its bigger rivals.

Tempus thinks this stock is best left well alone until the projects it has now begun to develop actually come on to the market (Last IC rating: Fairly priced, 25 Nov).

For the Telegraph's Questor column, Highland Gold doesn't glitter, at all.

Yesterday the world's biggest gold miner, Barrick Gold Corp. of Canada, announced it was to sell its 20.4 per cent stake in Highland, which is focused on mineral resources in Russia.

It's not difficult to see why, says Questor, with production missing targets during 2011 (and those targets had already been reduced).

The view? Questor says sell (No recent IC rating).

In the Independent, Sharewatch says Barclays is worth a hold on sound financials (trading at just 6.3 forecast earnings) but not worth buying. The problem for Sharewatch is that the bank is spending too much money on its bonus pool (Last IC rating: Sell, 13 Feb).

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