The Week UK 01Feb2020

Shares CITY 51

1February2020 THE WEEK

AFHFinancialGroup
InvestorsChronicle
Sharesinthewealthmanager
have reboundedasitmilksthe
under-suppliedmarketfor
independentfinancialadvice.
Fundsundermanagementare
up 40 %,andthere’sapipeline
ofpotentialacquisitiontargets.
Buy.385p.

GammaCommunications
TheTimes
Gammausesthecloudto
provideinternet-basedphone
andbroadbandservicesto
businesses.A“quiet
phenomenon”,withprofitsup
40%andstellargrowth
figures.“Lotsofoverseas
potential.”Buy.£13.80.

LearningTechnologies

Group

InvestorsChronicle

Thedigitallearninggroup’s

figuresare“comfortably

ahead”ofexpectations,with

revenuesup 38 %,profitsby

58%.Withan“active”pipe-

lineofinternationalacquisition

opportunities.Buy. 158 p.

RoyalDutchShell

TheSundayTimes

Shareshavebeenpunishedby

the“pushbackagainstfossil

fuels”,a“sagging”gasprice

andawell-suppliedoilmarket.

Still,there’shighpotentialfor

returnsthroughbuybacks

anddividends–“ifyoudare”.

Buy.£22.00.

Safestore

TheTimes

Ina“hotsector”withplenty

ofgrowthpotential,Safestore

operates 150 warehousesin

Londonandthesoutheast,

ParisandBarcelona.Not

cheap,butacautiousapproach

addstoits“safe”appeal,and

thestoragemarketisalong

wayoff“peak”.Buy.768p.

SageGroup

TheShareCentre

Sagesoftwarehelpsfirmswith

theirmanagement,accounting

andpayrollservices.Thedrive

toincreaserevenuesfrom

subscriptionsandcloud

servicesis“beginningtobear

fruit”.Buy.751.4p.

Who’s tipping what

Theweek’sbest shares

...and some to hold, avoid or sell

BHPGroup
The DailyTelegraph
The Anglo-Australianminer
benefitsfrom the “profitability
of it sworld-class ironore
operations”andgenerates
“significant” cash.Demand
fromChinaisslowing,which
is arisk,but it yields6%.
Hold. £18.16.

Card Factory
Investors Chronicle
Facedwithrising costs,
decliningfootfall, persistent
sales declineandrisin gcost
inflation,the greetings card
retailer has deliveredaprofit
warning,suspended the special
dividend andisrevie wing the
basic pay-out.Sell. 96.3p.

DerwentLondon

The Times

Rentalinco me is upand

vacancies arelowatthis

high-qualitycommercial

propertydeveloperfocusedon

the WestEnd, Shoreditchand

Paddington.But afterastrong

post-electionrun, sharesare

richlyvalued.Avoid.£41.86.

SIG

Investors Chronicle

The roofing andinsulation

specialist’ssales declineis

accelerating andmarginsare

wafer-thin.Brokershave

slashed forecastsfoll owing a

secondprofit warning and

reco veryhopes look over-

optimistic.Sell. 97.6p.

SmithsGroup

The SundayTelegraph

Smiths’ productsinclude

airport x-raymachines,

mechanical pipeline seals and

hoses–all markets with high

barrierstoentry.It’s spinning

off its medical divisionto

boost “slowly” improving

performance. Hold. £17.42.

Whitbread

TheTimes

The Premier Innoperatoris

planning3,000 new UK

rooms, and2,000more in

Germany.But afrail economy

means thatpositivefood and

drinksale shaven’toffset

falling hotel bookings.

Avoid. £44.29.

Directors’ dealings

Fever-TreeDrinks

Sharesinthetonicdrink-maker

slumped 20 %following

“subdued”Christmastrading.

PeakG&T?Notaccordingto

non-executiveKevinHavelock,

whohasspent£320,000

toppinguphisholdingin

anticipationofmorefizz.

Form guide

Shares tipped 12 weeks ago

Best tip

AK Medical

The Daily Telegraph

up 64.99% to HK $12.16

Worst tip

Hargreaves Lansdown

The Daily Telegraph

up 1.93% to £18.51

Market view

“The market sell-off we were

waiting for is here. The US

stock market rally was

overextended, and investors

will use the coronavirus

epidemic as the trigger

needed to deliverapullback.”

Edward Moya of

Oanda. Quoted in

The Daily Telegraph

SOURCE

:T

HE MAIL ON SUNDAY

Market summary

6-monthmovement in the FTSE100index

28 Jan 2020 Week before Change (%)

FTSE 100 7480.69 7610.70 –1.71%

FTSE All-share UK 4154.90 4223.35 –1.62%

Dow Jones 28779.62 29331.41 –1.88%

NASDAQ 9267.89 9390.94 –1.31%

Nikkei 225 23215.71 23864.56 –2.72%

Hang Seng 27949.64 27985.33 –0.13%

Gold 1580.10 1560.15 1.28%

Brent Crude Oil 59.81 64.71 –7.57%

DIVIDEND YIELD(FTSE 100) 4.39% 4.32%

UK 10-year gilts yield 0.57 0.66

US 10-year Treasuries 1.65 1.78

UK ECONOMIC DATA

Latest CPI (yoy) 1.3% (Dec) 1.5% (Nov)

2.2% (Nov)

+2.1% (Nov)

Latest RPI (yoy) 2.2% (Dec)

Halifax house price (yoy) +4.0% (Dec)

£1 STERLING $1.302 E1.183 ¥141.943

Key numbers for investors Best and worst performing shares Following the Footsie

WEEK’S CHANGE, FTSE 100 STOCKS

RISES Price %change

Experian 2705.00 +3.60

National Grid 1018.80 +3.19

Berkeley Group 5346.00 +3.09

Hargreaves Lansdown 1851.50 +3.09

Phoenix Group 760.80 +2.94

FALLS

Burberry Group 2010.00 –11.18

Antofagasta 859.20 –9.56

Carnival 3312.00 –8.89

Evraz 366.70 –8.78

Tui 815.80 –7.92

BEST AND WORST UK STOCKS OVERALL

Petrel Resources 13.50 +125.00

LightwaveRF 1.75 –58.82

Source: Datastream (not adjusted for dividends). Prices on 28 Jan (pm)

Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan

7,600

7,000

7,300

7,500

7,400

7,100

7,200

7,700

Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan

1,400

1,600

1,800

2,000

2,200

2,400

2,600

Director buys

21,579