Friday tips round-up: Rexam, HICL and Serco

18th Nov 2011 07:16

The Independent's Sharewatch column assesses Rexam, the FTSE 100 company which makes beverage cans. It made a decent gain on the FTSE yesterday compared to many of its peers and the Indy thinks it knows why.Rexam has said it is considering selling its personal care division. This would have definite positives for shareholders, not the least of which could be a significant wedge of cash. The disposal money could also help Rexam pay down debt. Despite the shares having fallen 10% since June Sharewatch believes the possibility of a major transaction is too tasty to ignore. Buy.The Telegraph's Questor column weighs up the benefits of investing in HICL Infrastructure. HICL invests in infrastructure projects to secure income, historically these have been private finance initiative (PFI) projects. The government is keen to increase private sector investment in PFI and this may benefit HICL long term.However, in the short term it has already boosted interim dividends to 3.35p and is aiming to provide a yield of 6% in 2013. Its net asset value per share is also rising, up from 109.7p at the end of March to 111.5p at the end of the third quarter.Given that the FTSE is currently in a low yield phase and HICL seems to be holding its own, Questor says this is a buy.The Times's Tempus column takes a look at Serco, the FTSE 100 outsourcing company. In an age of austerity outsourcers might expect to pick up a lot of work as governments and local authorities try to stop providing expensive services themselves. Annoyingly for Serco, which expects to make £5bn in 2012, there has not been a huge uptick in the kind of orders which can transform a balance sheet.It's true, the firm has won £50m to extend Boris Johnson's public bike scheme in London, but £50m is not going to change the world, argues Tempus. Serco is also suffering, as are many others, with delays to the federal budget in Washington, where the American government is operating on a so called "continuing resolution", which makes it difficult for government departments to make strategic resourcing decisions.With the share price down 10% on the year to date but still 13 times earnings, Tempus says best leave well alone.