Fiske

Small cap broker Fiske believes that resources’ fundamentals remain as strong as ever, and sees a lot of value still in the mining and oil sectors. The spring sell-off in mining stocks – a repeat of last year – came as the market became spooked by a shift to pessimism on Chinese growth. June’s statistics show these fears to be unjustified, and Indian demand is increasing. Fiske therefore believes share prices are on the way up again. Those it singles out as attractive include platinum specialist Jubilee Platinum, Peruvian copper and molybdenum explorer Monterrico Metals, diamond miner Mano River and Palmaris. This last venture has a stake in coal miner Mining Scotland. As oil prices soar, a successful bid for Mining Scotland seems ‘inevitable’.

Looking at other areas, plant hire group Ashtead is another Fiske favourite, following the success of its diversification in the US. And among the newer and more speculative companies, AIM quoted Israeli group Leadcom Integrated Solutions gets the thumbs up. This is largely because this group is a Nokia, Nortel and Ericsson partner, specialising in reselling telecommunications equipment in emerging markets. Profits are expected to rise from $8.1m this year to $10.5m next, giving earnings of 5.63c rising to 7.37c.

Staying with this sector, Fiske finds time to mention United Clearing, which handles the payments mobile phone companies need to pay each other for roaming calls. Expectations for this year are for United to post pre-tax profits of £1m and earnings of 4.15p this year, followed by £1.6m and 6.36p the year after.