Sunday share tips: Centrica, Concha, UDG Healthcare
Investors should avoid Centrica shares, Questor advised in the Sunday Telegraph. The British Gas owner has been hit by political uncertainty following Labour leader Ed Miliband's pledge to freeze energy prices, as well as warmer weather and falling oil prices at its exploration business. After three profit warnings in the past year the dividend is starting to look shaky, especially as political pressure makes it hard to cut capital spending. Shareholders are exposed to dividend cuts, a falling share price and the prospect of debt costs rising.
Centrica
132.45p
12:50 24/04/24
FTSE 100
8,086.81
12:50 24/04/24
Learning Technologies Group
76.10p
12:49 24/04/24
UDG Healthcare Public Limited Company (CDI)
1,079.00p
16:34 13/08/21
Danny Fortson in the Sunday Times does not understand the more than 3,400% rise in the share price of Concha in the past year. Concha is a shell company set up to buy technology and communications companies. Its executive chairman is Chris Akers, best known for selling Sports Internet Group to BSkyB for £300m during the dotcom boom. Akers' use of a shell company then may lie behind investors' enthusiasm for his latest venture. Its first two investments failed but investors have come up with £4m of new equity. One big win could make up for the failed investments but the Inside the City columnist does not get it.
Buy shares of UDG Healthcare, Questor recommended in the Sunday Telegraph. The medical equipment maker's shares have risen by about 50% in the past two years but trade on 14.8 times forecast earnings per share. The company is performing well, particularly at its Ashfield business, which helps drug companies with sales and marketing. It is attempting to move rapidly away from less profitable distribution into commercial services and there could be more growth to come.
Shares of Learning Technologies Group are worth a punt, Midas said in the Mail on Sunday. The company lets airlines cut costs of training cabin crew about medical emergencies by squeezing five days of residential training into eight hours online with a day of practical work. Training courses are going digital and regulation means almost every industry has to provide more training. Learning Technologies plans to consolidate the fragmented industry by buying up the best providers. Its top managers are big shareholders, motivating them to succeed.