Gamble of the week: Is there more to come from this newspaper turnaround?

This newspaper publisher has come a long way in two years. So, should you stick with your shares, or is it time to sell? Phil Oakley investigates.

In November 2012, I tipped this newspaper stockas a potential recovery play. At 79p each, the company's shares were trading on a forward price-to-earnings (p/e) ratio of just 2.9 times, giving it a market value of just over £200m.

It had debts of £162m and a hole in its pension fund to the tune of £283m. It looked as though the market was pricing the shares for bankruptcy. Yet the firm was still producing lots of cash flow.

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Phil spent 13 years as an investment analyst for both stockbroking and fund management companies.

 

After graduating with a MSc in International Banking, Economics & Finance from Liverpool Business School in 1996, Phil went to work for BWD Rensburg, a Liverpool based investment manager. In 2001, he joined ABN AMRO as a transport analyst. After a brief spell as a food retail analyst, he spent five years with ABN's very successful UK Smaller Companies team where he covered engineering, transport and support services stocks.

 

In 2007, Phil joined Halbis Capital Management as a European equities analyst. He began writing for MoneyWeek in 2010.