Thursday tips round-up: Cape, Aggreko, bwin.party...

1st Sep 2011 07:00

For the first set of figures as a company with a main listing, the interims from Cape were a touch underwhelming, according to the Tempus column at the Times. They were greeted with a 6¾p fall in the share price to 480p. Revenues were pretty well flat at £335 million and profits before tax fell by 12.5 per cent to £28.6 million. Operating margins slipped from 12.1 per cent to 11.5 per cent. Of the factors that held performance back, probably the most significant were aggressive competition in the North Sea, the completion of earlier work in the Middle East and a delay to starting on a large liquified natural gas plant in Algeria. Long-term, the shares look a pretty good bet, given the markets where Cape is focused and the higher visibility of the shares on the main market, says the Times.We have been fans of Aggreko for some time now, says the Investment Column at the Independent. Our confidence has been down to the fact that it is well placed to meet the global demand for power. The temporary power provider boasts both the know-how and the reach to meet the needs of its customers, whether it be during crises that knock out conventional supplies, or during big sporting events. The one fly in the ointment, however, is that the Aggreko story is far from secret. The market is very much alive to the growth potential, something that is reflected in the share price, which is up more than 100 per cent since the beginning of last year. You could, in other words, argue that it would be prudent to bank profits. We would disagree. Buy, says the Independent.Shares in the cumbersomely named bwin.party digital entertainment had lost half their value this year before they bounced 8.15p to 118.15p yesterday, which had prompted suggestions that an established player in the gaming industry might be tempted to make an offer, notes the Tempus column at the Times. Bwin.party is the fruit of the merger between bwin of Austria and the British-quoted PartyGaming and is the largest listed online gaming company in the world. Halfway figures showed the impact of the non-recurrence of last year's World Cup, the closure of the French casino operations and strong competitive pressure in poker from unlicensed US operators. The shares sell on less than ten times this year's earnings, but, without any takeover developments, further progress could be slow, suggests the Times.Last year, Omega Insurance found itself the subject of a bitter boardroom overhaul led by its largest shareholder Invesco Perpetual, resulting in the replacement of its chairman and chief executive, notes the Questor team at the Telegraph. Several months on, the company's future remains equally beguiling, with millions of half year losses counterbalanced by a series of takeover bids. Omega confirmed that it remained "in discussions" with a number of "third parties" yesterday as it updated investors on its mid-year results. The Lloyd's insurer posted a first half loss of $49.1m (£30.1m) for the six months to June 30 after incurring $51.3m of catastrophe losses relating to disasters such as earthquakes in Japan and New Zealand. Some of its investors are not so sure and remain unhappy at the lack of progress made since the boardroom coup last year. For now, this makes Omega one to avoid, recommends the Telegraph.Avanti Communications provides broadband services via satellites, notes the Scotsman. Avanti's shares are the subject of what amounts to a strong alternative gravitational pull and, for the time being, the bears are in the ascendancy. The key to any satellite telecommunications communications provider - and Avanti is much the smaller of the two UK-quoted concerns after Inmarsat - is to translate the not-insubstantial capital costs of launching the machine into the collecting of customers. One must acknowledge the sceptics' concerns but this Aim-quoted group seems to enjoy an increasingly-defined orbit, supported by sufficient funds to launch both its Hylas 2 and Hylas 3 satellites. The risks of re-entry burnout must be acknowledged but, for the more-speculatively inclined, the shares are worth a look, according to the Scotsman, which recommends a buy.BCPlease note: Digital Look provides a round-up of news, tips and information that is impacting share prices and the market. Digital Look cannot take any responsibility for information provided by third parties. This is for your general information only as not intended to be relied upon by users in making an investment decision or any other decision. Please obtain a copy of the relevant publication and carry out your own research before considering acting on any of this information.