Welcome to our summary of the weekend's quality press tips, provided on Mondays by Weekend City Press Review.
PRESS TIPS:
The Times
■ Tempus: Dominic Walsh sees few reasons to be cheerful about the forthcoming results season for real estate stocks, especial Land Securities which reports on Thursday and is the UK's largest real estate investment trust (Last IC rating: Hold, 16 May).
■ Millennium & Copthorne Hotels is only for the patient - or brave - investor (Last IC rating: Hold, 2 Aug).
■ Hold Bwin.party which could become a bid target (Last IC rating: Hold, 31 Aug).
■ Moor Park Capital Partners is one of three serious bidders for the £180m hotels business of troubled MWB Group Holdings (Last IC comment: 15 Jun 2011).
The Independent
■ No Pain, No Gain: Derek Pain says the City usually 'has trouble tolerating small shareholders', especially when companies indulge in 'capital exercises such as share consolidations'.
The Daily Mail
■ Investment Extra: James Salmon reports that most professional advisers believe bank stocks offer poor value for small investors because of regulatory and other uncertainties, although some contrarian investors think they are long-term recovery plays.
The Sunday Telegraph
■ Questor: Garry Watts says avoid Dixons Retail, £25.84, as it looks fully valued and it may not get the boost from Comet's demise that the market expects (Last IC rating: Hold, 21 Jun).
The Mail on Sunday
■ Midas: Joanne Hart says buy Mytrah Energy, 74.5p, as a speculative play on India's fast-growing alternative energy market (Last IC rating: Buy, 28 Sept).
■ Update: Take some profits at HaloSource, tipped on 10 October at 26p and now 34.5p, but hold the rest for further gains (No IC rating).
Business press headlines courtesy of Weekend City Press Review:
US election hangs on a knife-edge
The final set of jobs data before Tuesday's presidential election revealed that 171,000 new jobs were created in October, ahead of analysts' expectations. But the US unemployment rate rose marginally from 7.8 per cent to 7.9 per cent, mainly because of a large increase in the labour force as more people sought work given signs of economic recovery. The figures gave President Obama a much-needed boost over rival Governor Romney, with both candidates tied in the national polls, although Obama has a narrow lead in several of the 'swing' States. [Financial Times pp.1, 6]
Lloyds plots £1bn sale of wealth arm
Lloyds Banking Group is set to sell its 60 per cent stake in St James's Place Wealth Management, one of the UK's biggest financial advisory groups. Lloyds inherited the stake from the 2008 rescue of HBOS but now wants to sell to bolster its capital reserves by up to £1bn in the face of more regulatory pressure. [Sunday Times p.3.1]
Revealed: Apple takes bigger bite out of tax bill
Apple paid just US$713m on its overseas profits for the year to end-September in spite of earning US$36.8bn from outside the US, according to a regulatory filing lodged last week. This disclosed that Apple's overseas tax rate fell from 2.5 per cent in the previous year to just 1.9 per cent in the last 12 months. [Sunday Times p.3.1]
Comet backers to recoup cash
OpCapita, which took over the collapsed Comet retail chain last February, is expected to receive the majority of any funds raised from the retailer's liquidation by administrators Deloitte. The US investment company, founded by former US banker Henry Jackson, put in place a structure at the time of the takeover that ensured it would rank above other distributors, including customers who have already paid for their goods. [Sunday Times pp.3.1, 3.5]
Bolland feels heat as M&S sales slip
Marks and Spencer CEO Marc Bolland is set to come under renewed pressure this week following the retailer's interim results, expected by analysts to come in 11 per cent lower at £280m. But while 'general merchandise' sales are expected to be down 2.5 per cent on a like-for-like basis, the figures could show a 1.5 per cent increase in food sales. [Sunday Times p.3.3]
Recovery spells end of money printing
This week's meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee is expected to decide against further quantitative easing following signs of economic recovery, including the 1 per cent growth in GDP in the third quarter. Economists had expected the MPC to vote for a further £50bn of QE on Thursday. [Sunday Times p.3.2]
UK banks face new cash crisis
British banks are expected to be forced to raise 'tens of billions' of fresh capital next year as a result of new international accounting rules dealing with how banks should take account of loan losses on their balance sheets. The new rules from the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) are expected early next year and provisional analysis suggests UK banks will have to increase the provisions for bad loans by between 30 per cent and 100 per cent. Meanwhile, Standard Life has accused IASB of acting too slowly to protect shareholders in companies which adopt 'opaque and overly complex audits'. [Sunday Telegraph p.B1]
US investors pulled support from Comet
Comet fell into administration last week after US investors backing owner OpCapita decided to cut their financial support. The investors, including US firm Elliot Advisers and led by London-based Greybull Capital, reportedly declined a request from Comet for additional working capital because suppliers were seeking payment upfront. [Sunday Telegraph p.B1]
Cable rules out public interest test for foreign takeovers
Business Secretary Vince Cable has rejected the suggestion from Lord Heseltine last week that foreign takeovers of UK companies should be subject to a public interest test. Cable told the Sunday Telegraph that the government would not adopt 'economic nationalism' through blocking takeovers even if deemed against the national interest. [Sunday Telegraph p.B1]
Go Compare's founder makes sell-off overtures
Price comparison website Go Compare has appointed Grant Thornton to carry out a strategic review ahead of the planned stock market float of motor insurer Esure which owns a 49 per cent stake in Go Compare. Esure has said it has no plans to increase its holding and analysts suggest it could sell its stake, either to an outsider or to founder Hayley Parsons who currently holds 23 per cent of the shares, valued at more than £100m. [Independent on Sunday p.85]
