John Phelps’s portfolio

OUR SHARE tips managed to overcome their recent lethargy to advance across a broad front last week with our four portfolios showing average gains of around 1.5 per cent.

The overall results would have been a good deal better except for the poor performance of one or two recommendations. One was Dundeeregistered floor coverings group Low & Bonar which shed nearly 7 per cent on concerns about future market prospects although Cantor Fitzgerald analysts now think the shares are some 20 per cent undervalued.

Shares in Clover and Cathedral City manufacturer Dairy Crest also soured after directors raised milk prices paid to farmers by some 12 per cent, although they still believe annual profits will meet expectations.

Fortunately most of our other recommendations did rather better and Edinburgh-based software company Craneware saw its shares hit yet another peak on further investment support after its recent annual results. We remain fans of the shares but have again raised the stop-loss target at which we will sell our notional holdings to ensure we can lock in the bulk of our profits on any sudden reversals.

Packaging group RPC, owner of Scotland’s British Polythene Industries, was another share to hit a new high as the market absorbed the sale of 2.5 million shares by Standard Life. Others to score aboveaverage gains included bio-tech drugs company Shire on hopes of industry consolidation, while news of a return to export growth for the Scotch whisky industry gave a boost to Johnnie Walker, J&B, Bells and Cardhu drinks giant Diageo.

Our loss-making recent tips for waste treatment group Pennon and Belhaven Breweries owner Green King also perked up amid signs that recent selling could be drying up.

At present, though, we remain suspicious of the latest stock market rally and are prepared to sit on our hands for the time being rather than use our cash reserves for further share purchases.