Just feel free to put down any share you feel will do well in 2013 -


2013 SHARE TIPS: The Mail's city reporters reveal their top picks for the coming year


http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/article-2254395/2013-SHARE-TIPS-The-Mails-city-reporters-reveal-picks-coming-year.html

Investors Chronicle -

Compass (CPG)
Henry Boot (BHY)
Vodafone (VOD)
Imperial Tobacco (IMT)
Energias De Portugal (EDP)
First Property (FPO)
Invensys (ISYS)
Kefi Minerals (KEFI)

Six share tips for 2013



Richard Hunter | 4 January 2013


January is a time when many investors reappraise their portfolios and look for new opportunities. To provide some inspiration I have selected two shares I believe could be set for a strong 2013, and asked analysts Keith Bowman and Paul Williams to do the same.

Please remember past performance is not a guide to the future; all stock market investments will fluctuate in value so you could get back less than you invest.

Richard Hunter

Barclays

The banking industry is showing some signs of life, and Barclays could be set for an interesting year. Challenges certainly remain, including further regulatory issues and fines (US investigations into financial probity and interest rate swaps), higher capital requirements, and pressure from shareholders for greater return on capital (the dividend yield is paltry compared to historic standards).

Barclays' decision to hold its hands up first over the LIBOR scandal could prove financially prudent, as it led to a discounted fine. The company has a broad mix of products and is geographically diversified (describing itself as having a 'universal banking model') and in February is expected to announce a restructure of its operations - with particular regard to the investment banking and retail banking businesses.

2013 could be a seminal year for Barclays and, whilst the obstacles are many, there are signs this is a company on the mend. The market consensus now stands at a cautious buy and the share price has managed to gain 60% over the last 12 months (compared to an 8% rise for the FTSE 100), albeit from a low base.

Barclays prices, charts and research

Standard Chartered

Although a UK company, Standard Chartered derives around 90% of its income and profits from Asia, Africa and the Middle East. December's trading statement confirmed the company was firmly back on track after August's $327m fine from the New York regulator relating to transactions with Iran.

Standard is a rare example of a bank in hiring mode, particularly in China and Africa where it anticipates further growth. Despite the US fine, December's update also highlighted improved financial features, including revenues, lower loan impairments, general asset quality and strength in liquidity and capital. Over the last six months the shares have staged a quiet yet robust recovery, having risen 15% as compared to a 6.8% gain for the FTSE 100. This return to business as usual is reflected in a strengthening market consensus, now a buy.

Standard Chartered prices, charts and research

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Paul Williams

Whitbread

Although its brewing and pub heritage is a distant memory, Whitbread has not only become the UK's largest hotel and restaurant company, but it is also aggressively expanding its international presence.

Costa Coffee has grown to one of the largest coffee house chains in the world, and the largest in the UK. In its latest quarterly update the board reiterated its five-year growth plans (to 2015/16) to increase the number of Premier Inn UK rooms to at least 65,000, add 80-100 new restaurants and nearly double Costa Coffee sales of £1.3 billion from 3,500 stores worldwide. In spite of fierce competition, the group is on track to meet analyst expectations of strong full year results. The shares have risen 67% over the last year, but I believe there is no sign of investor appetite waning. The analyst consensus is that the shares are still a buy.

Whitbread prices, charts and research

McDonald's

McDonald's is one of the top ten recognised global brands and is the world's largest fast food chain. The weak global economy, a strong US dollar and the euro zone crisis weighed on the group's latest results, which showed revenues and profits flat ($7.2bn and $1.46bn respectively). Nevertheless, global sales grew 1.9%, and in Europe, where around 40% of its business is undertaken, revenues were up 1.8%. More importantly, McDonald's has consistently outperformed competitors since the recession, notwithstanding newer chains including Panera Bread Co entering an already competitive market. The company offers a stable balance sheet, a diverse global business with a progressive dividend policy and share repurchase programme. I believe the market consensus of a buy will remain for the time being.

McDonald's prices, charts and research

Keith Bowman

ITV

ITV's mid-November trading update was well received, and the five-year transformation plan established in 2010 remains on track. A more balanced and robust business model is the goal, with a drive to increase non-advertising revenues being led by a renaissance at the group's Studios business. Its Studios production arm saw revenues rise by 20%, although this included strong growth in the first half, with international sales of shows including 'Come Dine With Me' and 'Downton Abbey' playing an important part.

Cost-cutting initiatives were ahead of target, whilst competition from rivals airing Olympic events will not repeat itself in 2013, possibly allowing a move into positive territory for group advertising revenues. In all, in the changing world of the media industry, content remains triumphant above distribution, an area where the group is growing in strength. Management is highly regarded, whilst an eventual takeover of the company cannot be completely ruled out. In all, analyst consensus opinion remains favourable in tone, a cautious buy.

ITV prices, charts and research

G4S

2012 was not a year for G4S to remember. It booked a £50 million loss against its much-publicised Olympic difficulties, with the full reputational damage not fully quantifiable. It will lose an existing prison management contract and has not made the shortlist for a number of other prison contracts up for tender.

However, a degree of backtracking by the government appears to have occurred, with three prisons set to remain under public sector control. G4S has recently strengthened its management, hiring Adam Crozier (formerly of ITV and Royal Mail) to the board, whilst the company has at least been shortlisted to run a number of call centres assisting with welfare changes. The group operates in over 125 countries and continues to target growth in emerging markets, which currently generate around 30% of group revenues. This year's difficulties could result in a change in Chief Executive, whilst a dividend yield of over 3% (variable and not guaranteed) remains attractive. In all, analyst opinion currently denotes a buy.

2013 Share Tips from MoneyWeek

The 4th January 2013 issue of MoneyWeek magazine leads with "The ques for riches - What to buy in 2013"

In the article, MoneyWeek experts list the investments they would buy into now.
They panel consists of James Ferguson, Jim Mellon, Max King, Steve Rissell and Tim Price.

Here's are some of their 2013 share tips:

Webis (AIM:WEB)
Secure Trust (STB)
Travis Perkins (TPK)
Cranswick (CWK)
Reed Elsevier (REL)
Prudential (PRU)
Baillie Gifford Trust (BGFD)

While Max King says that he would short Vodafone (VOD)

Midas Share Tips – Our top tips for 2013 offer investors chance of superior returns

Posted by Joanne Hart on Monday, January 7th, 2013 at 2:18 pm.


While there is a more optimistic feeling in the City than a year ago, concerns remain. With that in mind, Midas has selected three top tips for 2013 that should generate superior returns for investors, even if economic growth remains sluggish.


Midas – The investment column that makes the most of your money

>> You can also sign up for Financial Mail’s Midas Extra share tips, which includes more than 150 exclusive share tips a year for just £10 a month.

Stock markets tend to look on the bright side at the beginning of a new year and so it has proved in 2013.

Brokers are hoping that the British economy will grow faster this year than last, that the eurozone will finally begin to recover and that the rest of the world will move at a livelier pace than in recent months.

While there is a more optimistic feeling in the City than in January 2012, concerns remain.

With that in mind, Midas has selected three top tips for 2013 that should generate superior returns for investors, even if economic growth remains sluggish.

Oil and gas group aims to deliver rapid threefold share price rise

OUR first tip is Fastnet Oil and Gas, a junior exploration company whose explicit intention is to deliver rapid results for shareholders.

The shares are 221/4p and the board believes the price could triple over the coming year. In most cases, such assertions would be met with scepticism, but the Fastnet team inspires confidence.

The company’s founders include three of the leading directors at Cove Energy – John Craven, Michael Nolan and Stephen Staley. Cove was another junior oil play, set up in 2009 and sold for £1.2billion last year to PTT of Thailand.

Now the trio aim to repeat the experience at Fastnet, aided by chairman Cathal Friel, a highly successful banker with 25 years’ experience advising companies, and Carol Law, who has spent her career in oil exploration, most recently at American oil giant Anardarko Petroleum Corporation.

Fastnet is focusing initially on Morocco and the Celtic Sea and it already has substantial assets in both areas. Unlike many junior oil companies, Fastnet intends to concentrate on exploration, seeking out early signs of promise rather than covering everything from discovery to production.

In Morocco, for example, it has already formed a joint venture with US oil group Kosmos Energy, which will be responsible for financing a large proportion of the development costs.

Fastnet will participate but it will not take on the entire burden itself. In this way, the group hopes to generate value for shareholders without constantly returning to the market for cash.

The same policy is being pursued in Ireland, where the company has licences over a substantial area in the Celtic Sea and is actively seeking a larger partner to further assess these assets. In the meantime, the company is fully funded for 2013 and expects to deliver a series of encouraging news updates over the next few months.

Midas verdict: Small oil and gas companies always carry an element of risk but the Fastnet board seems sensible, focused and determined to succeed. At 221/4p, the shares should go far. Even the ticker symbol bodes well. Buy.

Traded on: Aim Ticker: FAST Contact: 0203 411 5730 or fastnetoilandgas.com

Property developer has tempting yield

Established property developer Segro is our second recommendation. It owns the Slough Trading Estate, home to Ricky Gervais’s television hit, The Office.

Segro offers investors a six per cent dividend yield and the possibility of some real share price appreciation, too. The company is in the throes of change and the stock should respond as chief executive David Sleath delivers on his strategy.

Sleath took the helm in the summer of 2011 and has spent the past 18 months giving Segro a much sharper focus, concentrating on industrial property in or near key transport hubs, such as the Thames Valley, Heathrow Airport, Ile-de-France – the region surrounding Paris – and the Rhine-Ruhr region in Germany.

Sleath is also disposing of non-core property in Britain and on the Continent and reinvesting the proceeds in his chosen areas.

The company sold £505million worth of property last year and expects to complete further sales in 2013.

Brokers forecast a dividend of 15p for the year just ended, rising to 15.3p for 2013 and 15.5p the year after. Profits are expected to grow steadily as well.

Midas verdict: Sleath is determined to create one of Britain’s leading income-focused property companies and City supporters believe he is well-equipped to do so. The shares are trading at 251p and should reward yield-seeking investors. Buy.

Traded on: Main market Ticker: SGRO Contact: 01753 537171 or segro.com



Biotech minnow set to reap rewards from animal blood test kits

Avactar Group is a biotech business whose shares are trading at just over 1p each. The lowly valuation may worry some investors, but this firm, based near Wetherby, West Yorkshire, has real potential.

The group has three divisions. First, it makes a device – the Optim 1000 – which helps drugs companies work out at an early stage whether the products they are working on will ultimately be successful.

As 93 per cent of drugs that enter clinical development never make it to market and developing just one can cost more than £500million, the Optim 1000 can be extremely beneficial and is already used by pharmaceutical companies around the world.

Avacta’s second product, the AX-1, has a rather different target market. It is a desktop machine that performs rapid blood tests.

The company initially developed the device for the veterinary market, simply because new equipment can be launched more quickly and at a lower cost for animals than for humans.

The AX-1 is being tested by vets and should be launched commercially this year. Each machine will cost about £2,000 but they should prove costeffective, provided a number of diseases can be tested using them. Vets will be able to charge for tests but pet owners will receive results within a few minutes and so start to treat their animals faster.

With both the Optim 1000 and the AX-1, Avacta developed the devices and the tests that go inside them, so there are two sources of turnover, one initial and one recurring.

Over time, Avacta chief executive Alastair Smith hopes to introduce the AX-1 to the mainstream medical market, enabling doctors to diagnose a range of diseases more rapidly than at present.

The company’s third arm is extremely exciting. It has pioneered a way of making replacements for antibodies.

Antibodies are used extensively in medical diagnosis and biological and drugs research. However, they are extremely expensive, costing about £1million a gram.

Avacta’s replacements are made synthetically in laboratories so they are hundreds of times cheaper than antibodies. The company moved into this area just a year ago, following the acquisition of a small biotech firm, Aptuscan.

Aptuscan was behind the original creation of these replacement antibodies but Avacta has developed them materially over the past year so they now have far more potential in the commercial world. Smith hopes to use them to expand the number of tests available for the Optim 1000 and the AX-1 and ultimately they could also help to analyse diseases, such as cancer, far more accurately than is currently possible.

Midas verdict: Avacta’s turnover for the year to last July was £3.13million and there was a pre-tax loss of £1.6million, as the business invested in its future.

However, this company should expand substantially over the next five years. It has several strings to its bow, Smith is exceptionally bright and if he can capture even a fraction of the animal health or diagnostics markets, Avacta’s fortunes will be transformed.

Adventurous investors should buy the shares now, at a penny apiece.

edit. oh dear getting like herman now

Thanks for posting DC

Pleased if it helps.

Looks like the share price is pretty steady, possibly a good time to get in and buys are going for just slightly more than the bid price.

RRL and BMZ..uhmm?

BMZ for the spring but prefer LGO to RRL.

uponthelowdown - 01 Jan 2013 12:42 - 14 of 31

AMER 46.75p 52p
FAST 22p 26p
CAZA 16p 15.5p
IRON 2.2p 4.6p
HER 0.6p 0.7p
BMZ 13.5p
ORE 0.5p 0.6p
RRL 3.6p
SCPA 62p 62p
GKP 180p 210p

add KIBO 0.62p
Caza today!!

And Condor CNR over next 6 months 166p to £8!!??

rrl, yes hmmmmmm

RRL ?? very uneasy about them..BMZ share a director.
Happy with KIBO. IRON looking good, also HER. ORE, I like a lot.

RRL?..disinfected bargepole with rubber gloves now.

Check out my tip HGM going up nicely feel free to climb aboard.

Herencia HER on the up.
Amerisur AMER is about right for another run; up to 70p acc to RBC, their broker.
Ironveld IRON lots of large trades. Something bubbling
Caza on the turn. back to 20p plus
Fastnet doing presentations this week. Partner for Celtic sea in offing. Morocco farm-in.

BAYLIS [View BAYLIS's profile] - 30 Dec 2012 23:22 - 5 of 36 edit this post
CENKOS CNKS 74p
OCEAN WILSON OCN 960p
Taylor Wimpey TW. 68p

CNKS 85 . OCN 1035 TW. 85

not long too go now.