Newspaper and magazine share tips

The Daily Telepgraph

shares have soared in the past six months - when Questor advised investors to take profits - despite a lack of bidders for the first time in three years. The rise is linked to a focused strategy from chief executive Clara Furse of building on the LSE’s strengths. It is paying off, both financially and strategically. Yesterday’s unveiling of its new trading system - TradElect - is a good example of what Furse has been trying to achieve. The culmination of four years of investment, it is basically a severe upgrade to the LSE’s technology platform. The LSE is clearly capable of continuing to evolve and grow without a foreign suitor taking control. The share price reflects that, and the earnings growth that goes hand-in-hand with it.
Verdict: Hold

, formerly known as AIT, whose ex-bosses got mauled by the City watchdog for making misleading statements, has had a turnaround. Portrait’s ‘customer interaction’ software helps companies to organise their sales and service functions across multiple functions. That means everything from call centres, branch outlets and the internet to interactive TV and mobile. It has been using small-scale acquisitions to accelerate growth. It is already highly cash generative but its cash profile will remain suppressed until 2010 when a 4.3m loan is paid off. Revenues are lumpy and there may be bumps along the way, so this is one for the brave. But, at 20 times Panmure Gordon’s forecasts for 2008, falling to 11 for 2009, the shares merit consideration.
Verdict: Speculative Buy

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The Times

saw its shares rose nearly 13% to a record high yesterday following the announcement that it had struck oil in Ghana. It is the largest offshore discovery in the company’s 22-year history and confirms Tullow’s status as Britain’s biggest oil and gas independent. It’s .3bn market value makes it 1bn bigger than and a sure-fire contender for the FTSE 100. But was it an overreaction? The 51p added to the shares was only slightly more than the 45p a share that, at yesterday’s first estimate of 300 million barrels, the find has added to Tullow’s . Further drilling could easily push the find towards 600 million barrels. Perhaps more important, Tullow has a 49% stake in an adjacent block in Ghana’s Tano basin. The deepwater nature of the Ghana find means it will be five years before it becomes meaningful. And at 460p, half of Tullow’s stockmarket value is now pegged on exploration, which leaves little room for disappointment. But with Tullow drilling an unprecedented 40 wells over the next 12 months, half of which may be deemed major, sentiment is likely to remain behind it.
Verdict: Hold