Yell Group calls the shots in retail investment

Angus Rigby, Chief Executive Officer, TD Waterhouse comments: "Directories firm Yell Group has knocked Lloyds out of first position in the sells this week and rocked the banks' stronghold of the top ten buys by moving up an impressive five positions to become the second most popular stock to be bought this week.

"With 17% of overall top ten trades, our customers have no doubt been following news this week that institutional investors in Yell Group have agreed to shell out as much as £500 million to revive the company on condition that banks agree to relax lending terms. Yell has been sounding out shareholders on a rights issue over the past couple of weeks and has reportedly secured support in a move that the company hopes will speed up its restructuring process.

"Meanwhile, newcomers Jarvis - the British rail network services company - and Northgate have entered the buys this week on the back of very positive news in the middle of last week, which prompted attractive share price hikes for those of our customers that managed to scoop up low-priced shares early in the hope of making future profits.

"An announcement on Thursday, 10th September by Jarvis that it had received a tentative approach from a potential buyer boosted its shares by as much as 50% - up 26% at 23.5p by 11:03 GMT, having already risen as high as 27.25p earlier that morning. The company's board has urged however that ‘the inquiry is extremely preliminary in nature', which may explain why some of our customers decided to cash in on its share price hike over the week; placing Jarvis at sixth place in the sells also.

"In contrast, Northgate has not entered our top ten sells, perhaps because our customers are hoping for the share price rise over the coming week. Northgate, the largest van rental company in the UK and Spain, re-entered the FTSE 250 last week sparking a useful boost at a crucial time for the group. Back in April, the company had reported a pre-tax loss of £195.6 million as resale prices for used vehicles sank. Its net debt stood at £886m at year-end, but since then Northgate has raised £108 million through a placing and rights issue, clinching its revised lending facilities. It will be interesting to see if our customers buy up more Northgate shares, or whether they decide to cash them in next week."