Here are The Yorkshire Post business team's share tips for 2023

Lizzie Murphy, Business reporter writes:

If you were a shareholder at Clipper Logistics earlier this year then you could have received a tidy windfall from my 2022 tip as the company was acquired by New York listed GXO Logistics in a cash and share deal. The GXO offer, which went through in May, came as another sign of the boom in online delivery.

Leeds-based Clipper - a warehousing company that counts John Lewis, Marks & Spencer, Morrisons and Asda among its customers - gave shareholders the opportunity to select how much they were paid, in cash or GXO shares, via a ‘mix and match’ scheme. At the time, Clipper said shareholders would receive a high portion of cash at a significant premium to the prevailing share price and a premium to the all-time closing high.

Shareholders were also given the opportunity to invest in the combined group through the element of share consideration. Clipper said the deal offered the business an opportunity to develop as part of a larger global group with the resources to capitalise on attractive market opportunities. Demand for warehouses has seen huge growth over the past decade, particularly during the pandemic, as online shopping has accounted for an ever greater share of total spending.

The shift to online shopping accelerated even faster during lockdowns.

Clipper, which also serves Boohoo, Asos and JD Sports, expanded rapidly during the pandemic. For the year ended 30 April 2021, the business generated revenue of £696m and underlying earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) of £43m.

Under the terms of acquisition deal, Clipper shareholders received 690 pence in cash and 0.0359 new GXO shares per share. This year’s share tip is a bit of a punt and could go either way but I’m choosing to be optimistic. Wakefield-based Team 17 was a beneficiary of a lockdown-induced boom in computer gaming, which lasted for almost two years. The AIM-listed stock struggled in 2022 - its shares more than halving at one point from the start of the year. They ended the year around 40 per cent down from January.

However, the global market is still over 20 per cent larger than it was pre-pandemic. Although growth stopped in 2022, it is expected to return, with young people driving future market expansion.

Team 17’s plummeting share price also doesn’t take into account the firm’s strong growth. Revenues for the six months to July grew by a third to a record £53m — even though only one new game was released in the period.

Although pre-tax profit slipped by £3m to £11m, that was due to higher costs from acquisitions, which are paying off. The recent acquisition of German simulator game maker Astragon means Team17 now earns more of its revenues from its own intellectual property than ever before. Of course economic difficulties and a possible recession could hit spending on non-essentials, like video games, in 2023. Alternatively, gaming firms may benefit from the cost of living crisis with gamers considering it a cheap night in. I’m hoping for the latter.

Greg Wright, deputy business editor, writes:

2022 proved to be a turbulent year, which forced many investors to re-consider their long term plans. Last year, as the business world finally started to emerge from the dark cloud cast by the pandemic, I plumped for Braveheart Investment Group, which has a strong track record of supporting companies which can change the world for the better.The enterprises within Braveheart’s investment portfolio include Paraytec, which develops high-performance detectors for the analytical and life sciences instrumentation markets. Its potential was reflected in the announcement last year that University of Sheffield scientists and Paraytec had developed an accurate, efficient and low cost Covid-19 test.

This time last year, I believed that any enterprise involved in developing tests that could end Covid’s vice-like grip on our lives was likely to prove profitable and popular with investors. Sadly, as Braveheart acknowledged in its latest half year report, the market for COVID-19 tests has changed dramatically in recent months. However, the company believes that demonstration of performance in a clinical setting will attract potential licensees and acquirers to Paraytec's CX300 technology platform, not only for COVID-19 testing, but for many other potential applications. The Paraytec team is working on two further applications for the CX300 instrument; a “proof of concept” demonstration of a test for pathogens causing sepsis; and a method to analyse the quality of virus like particles which are used in gene therapy medicine. Braveheart remains a good long term bet for the patient investor.

So which company do I believe will make positive headlines in 2023? It’s hard to see anything halting the rise of the data activation platform WANdisco, which had a stellar 2022 and is poised for further growth next year. Just before Christmas, WANdisco signed an agreement worth $31m with a global telecommunications supplier. The company expects bookings for this financial year to be “significantly ahead” of market expectations.

Under the leadership of chief executive and chairman David Richards, WANdisco is set to help firms across multiple sectors execute large scale data movements. During a time of industrial strife and soaring inflation, WANdisco continues to sail on serenely.

It is flying the flag for Yorkshire on the global corporate stage and should provide investors with plenty of reasons to be cheerful throughout the new year.