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Press headlines & tips: Essar Energy, Surgical Innovations, Conviviality

Our summary of all the shares tipped by the quality papers on Saturday and Sunday
August 19, 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: Martin Waller says Essar Energy is not one for widows and orphans, but a risky punt at 135p (last IC view: Hold, 24 Jun 2013).

Rentokil Initial, 103.25p, looks likely to see slow progress (last IC view: Hold, 14 Aug 2013).

Surgical Innovations shares are Bet of the Day at 5.4p (last IC view: Buy, 10 Apr 2013).

 

The Independent

No Pain, No Gain: Derek Pain looks at the Aim component of his portfolio; there have been successes and disasters, but currently he sees newly floated Bargain Booze-owner Conviviality, 153p, as a sound long-term buy (last IC view: One to watch, 23 July 2013).

 

The Sunday Times

Inside The City: Simon Duke says WPP is benefiting from investment in digital advertising and emerging economies, and the merger of Omnicom and Publicis looks set to send more clients WPP's way (last IC view: Hold, 4 Mar 2013).

The trick in volatile markets is to spot stocks that will pay higher dividends in the future: Duke points towards Drax, 661p (last IC view: Hold, 30 Jul 2013) and Centrica, 383p (last IC view: Buy, 31 Jul 2013).

 

The Sunday Telegraph

Questor: Garry White sees Balfour Beatty, 245.7p, benefiting from the US upturn, and already has growing order books in the UK, US and Hong Kong; buy (last IC view: Hold, 14 Aug 2013).

 

The Mail on Sunday

Midas: Joanne Hart says Aim-listed Eden Research, 10.25p, which has developed biotechnology that could have an impact on crop production and livestock health, is at an excellent point to invest; buy.

Update: Nuts and bolts maker Trifast, 56.5p, tipped before the slump in July 2007 at 85p, offers value for new investors (last IC view: Buy, 25 Jun 2013).

 

Business press headlines courtesy of Weekend City Press Review:

India's sudden move to bolster rupee only deepens sense of crisis

India's unexpected decision on Wednesday night to reimpose local capital controls in a bid to protect the rupee followed warnings of imminent capital flight from the country. The reversal of a six-year old liberalisation was seen as a desperate attempt to deal with a cocktail of a falling rupee, a sharp economic slowdown, high inflation and budget deficits. One official complained that Indians had set up 'shell companies' to take advantage of the allowances for outward investment. The rupee fell on Friday to a record low of Rs62.03 against the dollar. [Financial Times, p.3]

Google: We are beyond British law

Google said that the UK High Court had no jurisdiction in the case brought by UK users suing the internet giant over security breaches on Apple products, after a similar US case brought fines of $22.5m. Google argues that all services are provided through Google Inc in California, and hence subject to US law. The company faces further attacks after insisting that its 425m Gmail customers have no 'reasonable expectation' of privacy. [Sunday Times, p.3.1]

Tesco bets on tablet to fight Apple and Amazon

Tesco is to launch a tablet computer in time for the Christmas market, preloaded with books, films and music, and apps for Tesco's grocery and banking products and internet streaming service Blinkbox; the company says it will come to market at a similar price point to Amazon's Kindle Fire, selling at £130. Tesco is radically reshaping larger stores into destination retailers, and is expected to sell its struggling Turkish arm as chief executive Philip Clarke concentrates on the core business. [Sunday Times, p.3.1]

Shire hires big guns to repel Americans

FTSE 100 pharmaceutical giant Shire has hired Lazard to bolster defences against a potential £17bn takeover, alongside Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank, after an approach by Bristol-Myers Squibb earlier this year. Shire's shares have climbed 26 per cent this year, hitting a high of £24.58 in August, giving the company a value of £13.2bn. [Sunday Times, p.3.1]

Strike set to bring Jaguar to a halt

A strike by Unite members at DHL will have an impact on Jaguar Land Rover, where DHL manages warehouses and parts transfers - Unite is asking for a 12.8 per cent pay rise; DHL has offered 4.5 per cent. Unite is also seeking assurances from JLR that a new plant in China will not affect UK production. [Sunday Times, p.3.3]

Hedge fund linked to RBS collapse backs bid for branches

Toscafund, one of the hedge funds that helped trigger the break-up of ABN Amro and its disastrous purchase by Royal Bank of Scotland in 2007, has been revealed as one of the funds backing W&G Investments, one of three bidders for the bank's sale of 315 branches. The bank, says the Telegraph, is being forced to offload the branches under European rules after the government's £45bn bailout, a direct result of the ABN Amro purchase. [Sunday Telegraph, p.B1]

Lloyds to sell insurer at cut-price

Lloyds Banking Group is to sell Heidelberger Leben, its German insurer, to Hanover Re for up to E400m; less than half the price originally hoped for with a E1bn valuation two years ago. The bank is thought to have been under pressure to speed up the sale in order to increase its capital, and had identified the unit as 'non-core' in a review of the businesses under its control. [Sunday Telegraph, p.B1]

Fracking in UK's interest, says Cuadrilla's Browne

Cuadrilla Resources chairman Lord Browne has told the Sunday Telegraph that fracking is in the "national purpose" and is more environmentally friendly than gas importation. "We need to explore as much domestic resource as we can," said Lord Browne, adding that it is the right move for energy security. [Sunday Telegraph, p.B1]

Treasury rules out online sales tax

In a response to the chief executives of six online companies, David Gauke, Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, said that an online sales tax has been ruled out as a way to address an alleged imbalance between internet companies and high-street retailers. The bosses of Ocado, N Brown, Shop Direct, Boden, Appliances Online and notonthehighstreet.com had warned that any tax would damage the sector and hamper job creation. [Sunday Telegraph, p.B1]

Highways Agency takes 'first step' to privatisation

The Highways Agency, which maintains the £108bn UK road network, is to leave the Department of Transport as a state-owned standalone company, thought to be the first step on the road to privatisation. The agency is seeking a "programme management service to ease the transition", and have approached Atkins, Halcrow and Arup. [Independent on Sunday, p.73]