It seems the company cannot flog these at a decent price – there have been approaches in the past – nor increase their value within Trinity Mirror. Declining circulation is a problem for most national newspapers but the Mirror titles have performed particularly poorly.The rest of the year is likely to be easier, so the shares at 627p are worth holding for now, but offer limited upside. Lavish spending on baby products makes Mayborn a worthwhile buy Parents are spending more and more on their babies and children, it seems from the evidence offered by Mayborn.A trading update yesterday said the year had started well, indicating that results this year would beat the impressive 2004 figures. The company makes baby feeding products, outdoor play equipment for children (swings, climbing frames etc), while a third division does something completely different – household products including fabric dyes and wood polishes. These are not obviously great markets but the company has record of growth in its baby products division, which makes bottles, cups etc under the Tommee Pippee brand. Mayborn says that while this market is growing at 5 per cent a year, it also benefits from product innovation here.The children’s outdoor equipment business was acquired last year and should benefit from growing consumer concern over inactive children. The household division is basically mature, although it remains profitable.Baird, the broker, forecasts 2005 pre-tax profit at £10.9m, up from £8.7m reported for 2004, which shows good growth.

At 382.5p, the shares trade on a modest multiple of 11, making Mayborn a buy. Good time to buy Cattles after recent turbulence Shareholders in Cattles, the specialist consumer loans company, will have been disappointed in recent weeks, as the group’s share price has tumbled more than 25 per cent from its eight-year highs of 420p which it hit in February. Although adopting the new accounting standards has hit the company’s reported profits, this should not detract from the strong growth it has been achieving in recent months, and the 15 per cent rise in the dividend which it unveiled in March. If the company continues at its current pace, it can well justify the slightly higher ratio between its profits and market value which the new accounting standards will inflict upon it.Although a major consumer slowdown would of course be a worry for the group, the current cooling off is bringing even more business to Cattles. As the bigger lenders tighten their lending criteria, more business will fall into the hands of Cattles, which specialises in lending to people with credit difficulties.There is still the ongoing competition commission inquiry into doorstep lending.

However, the likes of Provident Financial will be hit much harder by market intervention here. Only 10 per cent of Cattles’ loan book is accounted for by this sort of business.The fall in Cattles’ share price to 304.5p is a prime buying opportunity.. Just how supportive is Shire Pharmaceuticals’ largest shareholder of its controversial $1.6bn (£840m) deal to buy the US biotech Transkaryotic Therapies?

Just how supportive is Shire Pharmaceuticals’ largest shareholder of its controversial $1.6bn (£840m) deal to buy the US biotech Transkaryotic Therapies?
This was the question being asked yesterday as it emerged that Franklin Resources, the giant US investment manager, has cut its stake in Shire from 12.9 per cent to 11.9 per cent in the past few days.Franklin has been understood to be likely to back the acquisition, despite calls from some smaller shareholders for it to be voted down. Vocal opponents, including Britannic Asset Management, have called it a value-destroying deal, a risky acquisition made at the wrong price and in contradiction of Shire’s previous strategy.Yet the revelation that Franklin is voting differently with its feet sent Shire’s shares down 5p to 558p yesterday. The stock fell 10 per cent in the two days after the announcement of the deal and has recovered only a little.Fidelity, Shire’s number two shareholder, has upped its stake from 5.9 per cent to 6.1 per cent, after an investor roadshow by Matt Emmens, the chief executive, where he argued that the acquisition will add several highly profitable new products to Shire’s portfolio and will boost earnings from 2007.It was a bad day for shares in all the heavyweight pharmaceuticals companies, as investors switched back into the mining and financial sectors which have been unloved over previous days. It all balanced out as a 19.8 point gain for the FTSE 100, its fifth successive positive day, taking the index to 4,902.3.