The Week UK - 04.04.2020

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4April 2020 THE WEEK

CMCMarkets
TheSundayTelegraph
Thespread-betterandtrading
firmhasbeencapturingtwice
thenormalvolumeofclient
tradingactivity,notesPeel
Hunt,withanextra£15m
revenueinMarchboosting
profitsby£10m.Investing
heavilyintech.Buy.165.6p.

CodemastersGroup
InvestorsChronicle
Thisvideo-gamesdeveloper
majorsoncar-racing–
promisinglicencesinclude
Formula 1 .Couldface
disruption,butshouldbenefit
fromsurgingdemandfor
streamedproducts.Margins
areup 8 9%.Buy.215p.

Diageo

TheDailyTelegraph

Thedrinksgroupisholdingup

well,thankstolong-established

brandsincludingSmirnoff,

JohnnieWalkerandBaileys.

Astrongstableoflabels

enjoyinggeneration-spanning

supportaroundtheworld.

Buy.£22.16.

HollywoodBowlGroup

TheMailonSunday

SharesinBritain’sbiggest

bowlingoperatorhavebeen

overlysavaged.Well-managed

–sales,profitsanddividends

wereallrisingbeforethe

hiatus.Directorshaveshown

faithbybuyingmorethan

30,00 0 shares.Buy.153p.

RealEstateInvestors

TheMailonSunday

This“highlyconservative”,

Midlands-basedpropertyfirm

isfinanciallystrong,witha

spreadoftenantsincluding

NHSandgovernmentoffices.

Theportfoliois96%letand

theMidlandsis“forging

ahead”.Buy.34p.

YourgeneHealth

TheMailonSunday

Thediagnosticsspecialist

usuallyfocusesontestsfor

Down’sSyndrome,cystic

fibrosisandmaleinfertility,

butisdivertingresourcesto

makeCovid-19testingkits.

Awell-regardedindustry

pioneer.Buy.14.5p

Who’s tipping what

Theweek’sbest shares

...and some to hold, avoid or sell

Costain Group
InvestorsChronicle
After two profit warningslast
year, the“hits keep coming”
forthe “smart” infrastructure
construction group. Cash has
halved,the dividendhas been
axed andcost sare spiralling
on th eNational Grid project.
Sell. 38p.

Genel Energy
Investors Chronicle
This Kurdistan-focusedoil
andgas firmiscashpositive
and has held itsdividend.But
oilprice weakness,sliding
production,falling demand
and oversupplyare “major
headwinds”.Don’t wait for
theJunedividend. Sell.81.9 p.

IntuProperties

The Times

About 80%of Intu’s £2bn

propertyport foli oisinr etail,

including large centressuch

as LakesideinEssex and

Manchester’s Trafford Centre.

Loss-making, with£4.5bn of

debts–“clearlyin aparlous

state”. Avoid. 3.75p.

JD Wetherspoon

Investors Chronicle

The pub group hasscrapped

its dividendand delayedcapital

projects to conserveliquidity.

Sales and margins were rising

before8March, andCEOTim

Martinisl ikelytolobby for

further government support.

Hold.700p.

Marks&Spencer Group

InvestorsChronicle

Strongtradi ng inthefood

businessshould continue,but

the ailing clothing andhome

businessis vu lnerable to slack

demand.Despitecutting the

dividend andreduc ingcapex

from £400m to£80m,M&S

canill afford ahit.Sell. 115p.

SSP Group

TheTimes

SSP’sfood anddrink outlets

at airportsand stationswere

trading“extremelywell”. The

damagefrom lockdownhas

been “eye-watering”, with

revenuesdown85%,but a

lending facilityhasprovided

alifeline. Hold.290p.

Directors’ dealings

IWG

Theglobalwork-from-home

experimentcoulddampen

demandforIWG’sco-working

spaces.ButCEOMarkDixon

hasbought£5.5m-worthof

shares–showingfaithinthe

“long-termstructuralgrowth

drivers”ofthemarket.

Form guide

Sharestipped 12 weeksago

Best tip

Learning Technologies Group

The Sunday Times

up 5.48% to 128.68p

Worst tip

Bellway

The Mail on Sunday

down 46.96% to £20.32

Market view

“The way we put it is: it’s

too late to sell and too early

to buy... I’m pretty sceptical

of the current bounceback.”

Kasper Elmgreen of

Amundi. Quoted in the FT

SOURCE: INVESTORS CHRONICLE

Director buys

4.1m

Market summary

6-monthmovement in the FTSE100index

31 Mar 2020 Week before Change (%)

FTSE 100 5671.96 5446.01 4.15%

FTSE All-share UK 3107.42 2969.58 4.64%

Dow Jones 22421.62 20246.59 10.74%

NASDAQ 7827.45 7323.07 6.89%

Nikkei 225 18917.01 18092.35 4.56%

Hang Seng 23603.48 22663.49 4.15%

Gold 1618.30 1525.40 6.09%

Brent Crude Oil 26.37 27.34 –3.55%

DIVIDEND YIELD(FTSE 100) 5.20% 6.26%

UK 10-year gilts yield 0.35 0.47

US 10-year Treasuries 0.69 0.88

UK ECONOMIC DATA

Latest CPI (yoy) 1.7% (Feb) 1.8% (Jan)

2.7% (Jan)

+4.1% (Jan)

Latest RPI (yoy) 2.5% (Feb)

Halifax house price (yoy) +2.8% (Feb)

£1 STERLING $1.215 E1.111 ¥130.834

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

WEEK’S CHANGE, FTSE 100 STOCKS

RISES Price %change

Smiths Group 1226.00 +20.61

Legal&General 193.85 +19.99

Compass Group 1264.00 +19.25

Bunzl 1629.50 +15.57

Ictl. Htls. Gp. 3515.50 +15.26

FALLS

M&G 112.60 –18.99

HSBC Holdings 454.25 –11.80

Melrose Industries 91.50 –11.47

BT Group 117.90 –11.23

Centrica 38.08 –9.16

BEST AND WORST UK STOCKS OVERALL

Genedrive 28.00 +211.11

Hydrodec Group 2.25 –47.06

Source: Refinitiv (not adjusted for dividends). Prices on 31 Mar (pm)

4,000

Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar

6,000

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8,000

7,000