Top Ten Retail Investor Buys & Sells for week ending 23 February 2007

Angus Rigby, Chief Executive Officer, TD Waterhouse, commented: “Britain’s banks were in the firing line this week, with reports that extortionate charges and unfair overdraft penalty fees were boosting profits to new highs at the expense of the ordinary consumer.

“Barclay’s annual profits rang in on Tuesday at over £7.1 billion and sparked angry debate across the nation over the state of the UK banking system. Although the bank’s profits are up on average by over £100 for each customer, Barclays is fighting its corner, claiming that it turns away more than 60 per cent of its applicants for unsecured lending each year.

“High street rival Lloyds TSB, the UK’s fifth biggest bank, is reporting full year figures today. Lloyds is expected to show a less impressive performance than its competitors with slower than hoped growth for 2006. It is still expected to report a healthy profit rise of 7.2 pct this year though, thanks to tighter lending restrictions. Investors and analysts will both be hoping for an update on news of the possible sale of Lloyds’ life assurance subsidiary, Scottish Widows. Speculation has grown over possible suitors for the merger with Resolution, Swiss Re and Pearl Group all reported to be vying against one another. Amidst all this activity, investor confidence is divided over shares at Lloyds this week with near equal amounts of buys and sales of the stock.

“Meanwhile, interest grows in obesity drug developer Alizyme this week after the company reported its final figures on Monday. Despite posting a wider full-year loss for 2006, the company was bullish for 2007, in light of a number of deals that could yield greater returns for loyal shareholders over the forthcoming year. Chief executive Tim McCarthy put his money where his mouth was, fattening up his share of the company by investing in an additional 25,000 shares, raising his stake to 0.55% of the company. However, our clients are less enthused by stock as it enters our top ten sales this week. Long-term investors however, will be hoping that the recent heavy investment in research and development will clinch more deals for the company and strengthen its market share in the sector.”

Top 10 Buys

1 BP
2 Partygaming
3 Barclays
4 Vodafone
5 Lloyds TSB
6 BT Group
7 British Energy
8 Bradford & Bingley
9 HSBC
10 Uramin

Top 10 Sells
1 Royal Bank of Scotland
2 Partygaming
3 BP
4 British Energy
5 Lloyds TSB
6 Vodafone
7 Glaxosmithkline
8 BHP Billiton
9 Alizyme
10 Scottish Power