Banks continue to feed investor appetite

Angus Rigby, Chief Executive Officer, TD Waterhouse comments: “Our investors’ appetite for banking stocks is seemingly relentless, with UK’s banks accounting for 70% of all our retail investor buys and 62% of our sells over the week. This probably coincides with the end of the big banks reporting season for 2007 and we are already seeing investor attention turn elsewhere.”

The food sector has been hit hard recently, primarily driven by the spiralling cost of ingredients and the cost of wheat in particular. Results from Britain’s big food groups in the past two weeks have made investors and shareholders nervous. This week, Premier foods, Britain’s biggest food producer enters the top ten sells. Shares in the Company have dropped by 50% over the last eight weeks and earlier this week, CEO Robert Schofield, called on the British government to encourage more wheat planting to restore the imbalance between supply and demand.

Angus Rigby continues: “The rising cost of raw materials is being passed on to customers and our investors certainly have a bad taste in their mouths. It will be interesting to see how food groups trim themselves to stay in healthy financial shape this year. Our investors will be watching out for opportunities to snap up some snacks at a good price.”

Elsewhere, a second profit warning in as many months from British pest control and parcel delivery group Rentokil sent the shares crashing. TD Waterhouse customers, with a possible antidote to the Company’s ongoing problems in mind, bought into the stock this week, placing it in the top ten buys.