LONDON (ShareCast) - Churchill Mining will today announce that resources at its coal prospect in Indonesia have already topped 1.4bn tonnes with just 20% of the target area drilled. It means Churchill, which owns 75% of the project, may not just be sitting on a good asset, but on a world-class one.

With fundamentals still working in favour of coal prices, the news should provide a significant uplift to Churchill's share price in the weeks to come. With respected institutions on board, the company could well be poised for great things. Buy says the Telegraph.

With its five-year expansion plan still on track and operating profits forecast to carry on growing in double digits, Whitbread, at £11.27, or 12 times current-year earnings, remains, like a budget hotel, a good place to take refuge in tough times. Hold says the Times.

A statement from Imagination Technologies yesterday suggests that its fortunes are improving, finally. It named neither the customer nor the value of a deal to license its graphics and video chip designs, but the best guess is that it is Apple says the Times. The trouble is that royalties are slow to feed through and on at 33 times this year’s earnings, on broker forecasts, falling to 14 times next, the shares are not obviously cheap. Avoid.

Although own-label specialist McBride's headline sales were up 18%, they were down 2% once the effect of currency and acquisitions had been stripped out. Profits wer down over 30%. The culprit was the soaring cost of raw materials. Profits should recover as McBride recoups its costs. However, net debt of £103m , a flat full-year dividend of 5.6p and a current-year earnings multiple of 11 times offer little attraction at 102p. Avoid says the Times.

In the long run, McBride is worth holding - supermarkets like own-brand products as they make more money from them - but the short-term outlook suggests investors are better off out. Sell says the Telegraph.

McBride is a good company, and the theory suggests that it is as well placed as possible to perform in what is now likely to be a recession. Investments should be safe, but do not expect fireworks. Hold adds the Independent.

Film distributor Metrodome's interim results showed pre-tax profits (the first for some time) of £131,000, as opposed to a £225,000 loss this time last year – not a bad performance for a group with a market capitalisation of just a touch over £3m. However, investors thinking that a flutter on the group may be a good idea should think again.Investors have seen the stock rise 11% in the past month, but, sadly, that is likely to be it for a while. Cautious hold says the Indepndent.

SQS is carving out a lucrative niche for itself in software testing. With the number of contract wins up on this time last year and the software failure rate among developers at around 20%, there are reasons to suggest business will remain robust. The shares have had a decent run ahead of the results but on around eight times earnings are not overly expensive. Buy says the Telegraph.

Care home operator Southern Cross is cheap suggest the Independent. Trading on a price earnings ratio of 7.3 times, the group comes at a serious discount to some of its peers: Synergy, the supplier of healthcare services, trades at 18.5 times, for example. The truth is that Southern Cross is starting to fix its problems, and, although well deserved, the sell-off in the stock after the profits warning now looks a tad overdone. Buy.







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