UK Sunday newspaper shares tips

Insurance group Legal & General unveiled a major deal last week when it bought the life assurance and unit trust business of Nationwide, a move worth about £285m (€427.5m).

The deal is expected to add about £17m (€25.5m) of new business sales a year, with perhaps more to come as new products are introduced.

L&G has also said it is planning to return around £1bn (€1.49m) to investors, with further details due in the summer.

L&G shares look good value at 162.75p, despite steady progress in recent months.

With businesses being forced to look more closely at their environmental impact, Gas Turbine Efficiency is one of the companies that should benefit.

GTE designs and manufactures cleaning systems for turbines used in both the aviation and power generation industries.

The company has worked with a number of blue-chips, including Rolls-Royce and Siemens, and secured a £2.5m (€3.7m) deal late last year with Pratt & Whitney to equip the jet engine maker’s global network of aircraft engine maintenance depots.

Since listing on the Aim market in December 2005 at 30p, shares have been fairly volatile, spiking as high as 60p shortly after flotation. Shares, which are currently 49.5p, are a speculative buy.

Applied Intellectual Capital is an incubator fund specialising in the development of electrochemical technologies, such as offering a way for mining companies to recover valuable metals from waste tailings.

Its strategy is to build standalone commercial businesses around its various technologies, take stakes in them and then realise value from both the ongoing income streams and potential sales or flotations.

The shares – at 98.5p – have had a bumpy start since floating in January at 95p, so investors should be aware of volatility.

Dunelm Mill, the home furnishings retailer that floated in September, has set itself a target of growing the business into a national player. Under chief executive Will Adderley, who is the son of founders Bill and Jean, the company has set its sights on growth in the south of England.

Last month the group said that like-for-like sales were up 5% in the six months to the end of December. Dunelm Mill trades at a 10% discount to the rest of the retail sector so there is a potentially interesting growth story to buy into at 221.5p.