From the Independent this AM17 Jul 2007 10:58
Sportech Our view: Buy Current price: 16p
Can Sportech spearhead a revival in the Pools? The company, which runs Littlewoods, is trying to merge it with Vernons, but faces a Competition Commission probe first. This seems unfair - there is only one operator of the National Lottery, after all - but regardless of this, it might be worth taking a punt on these shares. Yesterday the company appointed the former Leicester City chairman John Holmes as a non-executive, a good hire given that football-based games are its bread and butter. And there is ample opportunity to expand its business and add new games both here and overseas - it already has a flourishing business in selling the pools to Mauritius, for example. Then there is the addition of games linked to other sports, such as cricket and rugby (who said it had to be a round ball that you had to spot?). The sale of the loss-making bookie Bet Direct has been a good one, and the company is actively paying down debt (no bad thing in the current climate). At 12 times this year's earnings (there is no dividend), the shares are worth a speculative flutter.