Sunday share tips: Made.com, Geopolitical storm survivors

The Sunday Times's Sabah Meddings told readers to 'buy' shares of Made.com, predicting that the online furniture retailer would profit from easing supply snags and still high demand from millennials Europeans too.

The company flourished during lockdown but later fell afoul of global shipping delays and container shortages, resulting in its December profits warning after £45-worth of orders were delayed.

That was soon followed by the retirement of its chief executive officer which duly resulted in a large price drop.

Nonetheless, the "demand was there", Meddings said, pointing to a 38% jump in sales last year.

She added that high rates of employment should support consumer spending despite the cost-of-living squeeze.

Furthermore, the company had £100m of cash on its books and was savvy with its marketing.

"Asian supply blockages are easing and the brand is still held in high regard by millennials who are happy to buy their furniture without sitting on it first.

"[...] Solving supply issues will help get rid of the website’s disastrous "out of stock" warnings, and that will make it a stock to get into. Buy."

The Financial Mail on Sunday's Midas column tipped shares of BAE Systems, Supermarket Income REIT, NWF, Primary Health Properties and National Grid, arguing that they were more likely than others to weather the geopolitical storm in Ukraine.

In the case of BAE, Western Europe's largest defence company, Midas emphasised how the outfit provided an "essential service in an unstable world".

Furthermore, defence budgets may expand if Russian aggression persists, the tipster said, while pointing out the firm's "attractive" 4% dividend yield.

In the case of Supermarket Income REIT "whatever happens to the world order, people need to eat".

And critically the company had thus far delivered capital and income growth and should continue to do so.

Hence, the shares were a "strong, defensive buy".

NWF was another "stalwart stock for troubled times", Midas judged, pointing to growth in all of the company's main divisions, fuel delivery, food storage and animal feed.

Primary Health Properties meanwhile enjoyed 90% of its rents being backed by the government, many of which were inflation-linked, while delivering a key service for society through its health centres.

Worth noting, it had delivered 25 years of consecutive dividend growth and the current "attractive" dividend yield stood at 5%.

National Grid's dividend was also expected to continue growing with Midas anticipating "steady, predictable growth" and its 4.6% dividend yield was an "added attraction".