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Press headlines & tips: Royal Dutch Shell, Marston's, Vodafone

Our summary of all the shares tipped by the quality papers on Saturday and Sunday
July 22, 2013

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

PRESS TIPS:

The Times

Tempus: Deirdre Hipwell says Royal Dutch Shell (RDSA) is wobbling; when BP has navigated its Gulf squalls, it should give Shell a run for its money (Last IC rating: Buy, 9 Jul).

Development Securities (DSC) is the least glamorous property stock, but looks on track to be a good bet (Last IC rating: Buy, 23 May).

■ Sierra Leonean diamond and gold explorer Golden Saint Resources (GSR) listed on Aim on Friday; brave investors should take a chance (No IC rating).

The Independent

No Pain, No Gain: Derek Pain is sticking with Booker (BOK), 130.5p despite the struggling Makro arm, but dropped G4S just before more bad news (Last IC rating: Buy, 23 May).

The Daily Mail

Investment Extra: James Coney says that European stocks are attracting investors anticipating imminent recovery.

The Sunday Times

Inside The City: Danny Fortson says pubs should benefit from the clement weather, especially Marston's (MARS), trading at a slight discount of 9.1 times against average 10.1 times (Last IC rating: Buy, 16 May).

Britvic (BVIC) may have rallied a little since it saw off AG Barr, and is up 2 per cent to 515p, but investors will still want to see that it can go it alone (Last IC rating: Hold, 22 May).

The Sunday Telegraph

Questor: Garry White says buy Vodafone (VOD), 191.35p, in the face of further investment, good returns from Verizon Wireless and a prospective 5.4 per cent yield (Last IC rating: Buy, 25 Jun).

The Mail on Sunday

Midas: Joanne Hart says Forbidden Technologies (FBT), 21.75p, are a punt for the adventurous, providing world-leading video technology for organisations such as the BBC, Google and YouTube (Last IC rating: No recent IC rating).

 

Business press headlines courtesy of Weekend City Press Review:

SEC charges Wall St hedge fund star

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has charged Steven Cohen of SAC Capital with failing to prevent insider trading. He is the highest-profile target of a government crackdown following "illegal trades" that allowed SAC to make profits of US$275m. [Financial Times, p.1]

Miner claims City grandee passed secrets to press

Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation (ENRC) is to take legal action against former non-exec board member Sir Paul Judge, claiming he leaked information to the media. ENRC refused to release more details to the press. [The Times, p.45]

GSK boss to admit China 'scam'

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) chief Sir Andrew Witty is to admit that an internal investigation has uncovered evidence of a "shameful" orchestrated attempt to falsify invoices, pay bribes and siphoned off funds in China. The allegations centre on agencies used to organise medical conferences. Witty plans to travel to China to support Abbas Hussain, president of emerging markets, who went on Friday. [Daily Telegraph, p.35]

Japan issues warning over UK exiting Europe

In an extraordinary intervention in the EU exit row, Japan has suggested that UK jobs may be at stake, as it views the UK as a gateway to Europe for the 1,300 Japanese firms with a UK presence. [Sunday Times, p.1.1]

Vulture funds poised to feast on Co-Op Bank chaos

Two Wall Street hedge funds, Aurelius Capital Management and Silver Point Capital, have taken a controlling stake in one of the Co-operative Bank's loans, giving rise to fears that a £1.5bn rescue plan could collapse. [Sunday Times, p.3.1]

Rebels win fight at Gulf Keystone

In a climb-down in its battle with rebel shareholders, Gulf Keystone Petroleum (GKP) has agreed to a tranche of new directors nominated by M&G, only days after chief executive Todd Kozel and the board unanimously rejected the four. [Sunday Times, p.3.3]

Growth doubles as 'all cylinders fire'

UK output is expected to double to 0.6 per cent when Q2 figures are released by the Office for National Statistics this week, and annual growth to reach 1.4 per cent, the highest for two years. Services, industry, agriculture and construction are all expected to have expanded at once - a phenomenon that has only been observed four times in the past 15 years. [Sunday Times, p.3.1]

Lift for Osborne as growth accelerates

The Chancellor will receive a major boost when figures from the Office for National Statistics will show 0.6 per cent growth in the economy on the three months to June. Goldman Sachs are predicting annual growth of 1.2 per cent, in line with projections from the Bank of England, but see underlying growth at 2.7 per cent currently. [Sunday Telegraph, p.B1]

United Utilities opens talks with Cuadrilla over fracking deal

Water utility United Utilities (UU.) is reported to be in talks with Cuadrilla Resources over locations for shale gas extraction and exploration on its land. In 2011, United supplied CR with the large volumes of water needed for one exploratory site near Blackpool. [Sunday Telegraph, p.B1]

CBI head backs third runway for Heathrow

In an interview with the Sunday Telegraph, Sir Mike Rake, new CBI president, has said that the need for a third runway at Heathrow is a 'no-brainer', while the CBI itself remains the only business group not to 'unequivocally back an enlarged Heathrow'. [Sunday Telegraph, p.B1]