Press tips: Anglo American, Sierra Rutile and others

By Weekend City Press Review, 20 February 2012

Tips from the press

Welcome to our summary of the weekend's quality press tips, provided on Mondays by Weekend City Press Review.

The Times

Tempus: Dominic Walsh say the major global hoteliers, including InterContinental Hotels Group , Starwood Hotels andMarriott International, are showing the benefits of an 'asset-lite, customer-focused' strategy in contrast to the problems being faced by highly-leveraged hotel businesses owned by private equity firms.

The Independent

No Pain, No Gain: Derek Pain thinks the auction of Aim-listed Plus Markets , 1p, could see a new lease of life for the 'rather sleepy fringe share market'.

The Sunday Times

Inside the City: Matthew Goodman says that both William Hill and Ladbrokes are enjoying good trading, not just from online gambling but also as a result of expansion of their bricks-and mortar betting shops.

Pawnbroker Albemarle & Bond is expected to reveal along with its interims this week that the area inside the M25 is to be the new focus for its store-opening programme.

The Sunday Telegraph

Questor: Emma Rowley says buy Anglo American , £26.79, following its strong results last week as the shares look cheap in spite of the continuing row with Chile's Codelco.

The Mail on Sunday

Midas: Joanne Hart suggests 'taking a punt' on Sierra Rutile , 62.5p, the supplier of titanium dioxide for paint which has been transformed over the past 18 months by an experienced new management team.

Take some profits at mobile phone payment provider Bango , tipped in July 2010 at 97p and now 153.5p, but hold the rest for further growth.

SUNDAY NEWSPAPER BUSINESS HEADLINES

£4bn losses for bailed-out banks

Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group are expected this week to reveal combined full-year losses of £4bn or more, killing off hopes of a speedy return to the private sector and repayment of the State’s £66bn investment. RBS’s losses are due at between £1bn and £2bn while Lloyds could announce a shortfall of as much as £3.5bn.[Sunday Times pp.3.1, 3.5]

Vulture funds to take control of Travelodge

Struggling budget hotel chain Travelodge is a target for two New York hedge funds – Avenue Capital and Golden Tree Asset Management - which are seeking to seize control if it cannot raise £60m to meet debt repayments. The funds are already believed to be among Travelodge’s biggest creditors after buying some of its £530m debt. Dubai International Capital, which bought Travelodge for £675m in 2006, is thought unwilling to inject further funds into the business.[Sunday Times p.3.1]

London traders named in worldwide rate-fixing probe Court documents filed in Canada have named six traders who are being investigated over allegations they sought to manipulate the London interbank offered rate (Libor) during the financial crisis. The six are: Brent Davies and Will Hall (both ex-RBS), Peter O’Leary (ex-HSBC), Guillaume Adolph (ex-Deutsche Bank) and Paul Glands and Stuart Wiley (ex-JP Morgan). None of the individuals or banks have been charged with any offence.[Sunday Times p.3.1]

Tesco goes back to basics to halt sales slide

Tesco is to spend up to £200m this year on recruiting specialist staff, including greengrocers and butchers, to improve customer service. The investment is part of a £400m revamp in the wake of the 2.3% fall in UK sales over Christmas amid claims Tesco has lost its traditional retail focus.[Sunday Times p.3.2]

HSBC set to snub aid plan

HSBC may decline to take part in George Osborne’s plans to inject £20bn into the economy through guaranteeing loans to small and medium sized businesses. HSBC is believed unhappy that the measure will favour Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group which rely on wholesale funding, making it more expensive for HSBC to take part as it is more deposit funded.[Sunday Telegraph p.B1]

Hedge funds bet on Glencore

Several hedge funds are believed to have taken a series of complex positions on the proposed £53bn Glencore merger with Xstrata that will pay off if Glencore decides to walk way rather than pay an increased premium. Xstrata’s institutional shareholders have made it clear they believe Glencore must pay more for a deal to take place.[Sunday Telegraph p.B1]

BA talks to OFT over fine

British Airways is in negotiations with the Office of Fair Trading about a reduction in the £121.5m fine levied in 2007 for alleged price-fixing. BA is expected to pay just half the fine but will deny any liability.[Sunday Telegraph p.B1]

Murdochs face US call for change

Rupert Murdoch is coming under pressure from US investors over corporate governance reforms following the police investigation into phone-hacking at the Sun newspaper. The Californian State Teachers’ Retirement Fund has made clear its concern at developments, increasing the demands for a board shake-up at News Corporation.[Sunday Telegraph p.B1]

Homeserve draws up succession plan

HomeServe is apparently grooming chief operating officer Martin Bennett to replace CEO Richard Harpin. The move, suggested in internal documents, comes after the company lost 55% of its value last year following a mis-selling scandal.[Sunday Telegraph p.B2]

visible-status-Public story-url- WeekendPressShareTips_200212.xml