Some shares to consider at your leisure

Published on Friday 30 June 2006 12:44

HOLIDAY business MyTravel has been ill-regarded by some market commentators in recent years. For some time now the company has been struggling with loss-making operations in the UK and the US and has been working hard to return to profitability.

This process is now beginning to pay off and throughout most of this year the shares have had their supporters, first because they were cheap and now because investors see the business as a prime takeover candidate.

Another leisure industry share which could be worth buying now is Whitbread, which has seen tremendous growth in its Premier Travel Inn chain of budget hotels.

Less successful, however, has been the performance of the group's often adjacent pub restaurants and as a result the company is seeking to sell off 230 of them later this year. While not cheap, the shares are reckoned still by some analysts to represent good value as the profitability of the business looks likely to be enhanced further.

Buy recommendations are also circulating over the shares of BTG, the long-established technology development business, despite its recent set-back over a request by the US drugs regulator for trials to be undertaken over the company's Varisolve varicose vein treatment. Regardless, some analysts believe the business is on the verge of some exciting breakthroughs which could massively boost profits.

Other shares which are winning plaudits are those in insulation material distributor SIG which provides the materials that new building regulations insist must now be used in construction projects.

Add to that the increasing demand for insulation materials being driven by the rise in energy prices and you have the makings of a boom in the share price.

Smart investors have been buying them up over the last couple of years but such has been the recent uplift in forecast profits for the current year that the shares look reasonable value and well worth investigating.

Higher energy costs have also been good news for shareholders in British Energy, which has been prospering following a restructuring last year.

The shares look particularly good value at current levels given that there is every chance the Government will soon announce a revival of the country's nuclear power programme and the company looks eminently suited to participate centrally in that process.

Nuclear power is, of course, not the only game in town and shares in North Sea oil and gas operator Venture Production have been enjoying consistent demand from investors over recent years.

The company's speciality lies in exploiting mature fields in the North Sea which the major oil businesses regard as marginal to their operations.

Some analysts believe that while oil prices stay high the shares are still worth buying as the company develops techniques to further reduce the costs of extraction.

Drew Johnston is a business writer and MD of Blueprint Media.