Sunday share tips: BT Group, Bacanora Minerals

Shares in BT Group returned almost three times as much as its benchmark as it used its stranglehold on rivals' access to its broadband network to build up its own product offerings, but things are about to change, The Sunday Times's Danny Fortson says in his Inside the City column.

Starting from next month Ofcom, the regulator, will be introducing changes to make it cheaper for its competitors to access the BT network. Then there is the 'great unknown' - the once in a decade review of the industry.

BT is expected to be asked to improve service levels and download speeds at Openreach, squeezing its cash cow.

A price war is probably also on the cards in the mobile space, with Sky set to enter the market possibly as early as this summer.

The margin for cutting costs has also been depleted, with analysts at Jefferies estimating the £800m pace of annual reductions of the past four to five years set to more than halve.

Taken all together, the broker estimates turnover at BT will drop 1% a year over the next four years, which will probably lead to a decline in the rate of growth of the dividend.

"Faced with a cranky regulator and newly emboldened rivals, BT is a raging “buy” no more. Sell", Fortson said.

Bacanora Minerals's stock should gain over the next few years as it moves towards production at its massive lithium project in northern Mexico, The Mail on Sunday's Midas column said.

The material is a critical component in mobile phones, tablets, laptops and electric and hybrid cars as a component for modern batteries.

It is also predicted that it will play a key role in energy storage.

Bacanora's chairman is industry veteran Colin Orr-Ewing, who funded initial exploration out of his own pocket before listing the firm in Toronto and then on AIM.

Company boss Peter Secker is hoping to have two buyers lined up for the firm's finished material by the end of the year. That should help it clinch the bank financing necessary to fund a processing plant to manufacture the refined products its customers require, with production from the plant expected to start in 2019.

"This stock is certainly not for the faint of heart, but for investors with a taste for adventure, this could prove an exciting investment," Midas concluded.