BEST OF THE BROKERS
CLUFF GOLD
Seymour Pierce recommends “buy” on Cluff Gold shares due to its acquisition of the Sega gold project in Burkina Faso for $30.5m. The new project – just 20km from Cluff’s Kalsaka mine – brings an extra 35 per cent of additional resource to the group. As $74/oz for the asset, this looks decent value against the London-listed average of $129/oz. Wish cash flow to spare, this looks like a good move for Cluff.
CUPID
Numis has upgraded dating website Cupid to “buy” in light of Facebook’s recent filing for an IPO, which highlights the advantages of investing early in internet success stories. Towards the end of last year Cupid reported a revenue growth of 189 per cent due to rapidly increasing global expansion, but with 15 countries still to penetrate. While Cupid is not new to the stock exchange, it remains an aggressive grower and a sound investment.
MISYS
Merchant Securities has downgraded Misys to “sell” on the disappointing news that the IT solutions supplier is in talks with Temenos for an all-share merger after all the rumours of a bid. While this has polarised opinion, Merchant believes the merger is borne of organic weakness; Misys has never proved an ability to deliver major revenue or cost synergies from deals, and its M&A track record is mixed.