Tuesday tips round-up: Segro, Aviva, European Goldfields

20th Dec 2011 07:25

The Times's Tempus column takes a look at the property investment company Segro. Segro is actually a real estate investment trust or REIT, the kind of company which looks to return lots of money to shareholders in dividends instead of focusing on capital growth.Yesterday it announced a joint venture with the Moorfield Real Estate Fund to buy the UK Logistics Fund for £130m plus £184.7m in debt. The deal is interesting because of the business idea behind it. Segro's Chief Executive David Sleath likes the warehousing assets that the Moorfield fund owns in Corby and Sheffield. As big supermarket chains look to become more efficient in their distribution they will need more warehousing space and, Tempus belives, Segro is now large enough to offer customers benefits of scale.With the shares now at a 50% discount to assets and a yield of 7.6%, Tempus says buy.The Independent's Sharewatch column takes a look at insurance firm Aviva which turned down a £5bn bid for its general insurance business last year, but which is now at a book value at just £2bn. Not a great start and when you add in its exposure to the Eurozone crisis, in particular Italy, then you might wonder where the Sharewatch column is going.Nevertheless, the Independent's stock pickers argue that Aviva has lots of surplus capital to survive a euro meltdown and its shares are trading at a 30% discount to its book value and offer a yield of 8%. At that price, Sharewatch believes, Aviva is a buy.The Telegraph's Questor column looks at European Goldfields. It is the subject of two bids, one from the Qatari sovereign wealth fund, the other, an all share offer from the Candian miner El Dorado.Questor believes the all share deal with El Dorado is going to win the day, as it gives Goldfields' shareholders a 22%, undiluted stake of what would become an 11 billion Canadian dollar enterprise. With the competition hotting up, European Goldfields is a hold.BSPlease 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.