Friday tips round-up: Centrica, Anite, May Gurney

2nd Dec 2011 07:25

There are about six billion mobile phones on the planet. There are, as yet, just two million subscribers to the next generation, the 4G networks, mainly scattered across the United States and in the Far East, writes Tempus in The Times. That statistic tells you all you need to know about the stock market's new-found enthusiasm for Anite, which provides mobile phone companies with the equipment used in testing new phones and networks. Part of Anite's problem is that the field is difficult to understand, and riddled with obscure acronyms. The shares sell on about 15 times' this year's earnings; having tipped them previously, Tempus sees no reason to change the stance. The advice is to tuck away for the long term.May Gurney posted a very good set of interim numbers yesterday and signalled a confident view in its future, writes Questor in the Daily Telegraph, in a feature on the defensive qualities of the outsourcing specialist. The company is not at the front of the queue to benefit from George Osborne's £5bn infrastructure plan, because it is not involved in areas such as road-widening. However, the £1bn regional growth fund is likely to have a positive, supportive effect as local authorities invest in new projects. Attempts to stimulate house building should also be a positive in this area, Questor suggests. The shares are trading on a March 2012 earnings multiple of 10, falling to 8.8 next year and yielding 2.7pc. First recommended at 218p on October 4, 2009, the shares are now up 31pc compared with a FTSE 100 up 11pc. They have been tipped as high as 280p and the shares remain a buy.Centrica was trumpeting the prospects for its upstream assets at an investor day in London yesterday, Tempus observes. The group's problem, in PR terms at least, is that it is best known for the business we pay our mounting bills to, British Gas, than for gas assets in the North Sea, Trinidad and Tobago and Morecambe Bay. The perception has always been that Centrica mainly owns these to ensure supplies to UK industry and households. Instead, the company insists that this is a viable and growing business in itself. Fears over state interference in the energy market that have held the shares back this year look overdone. They have the support of a dividend yield of above 5 per cent and sell on a bit more than 11 times this year's earnings. There seems little downside; it may take some time, but as the merits of the Norway deal become more apparent, the shares should start to pick up again, Tempus thinks.--jh