Friday newspaper share tips: British Land, Land Securities, Sky

Investors would therefore be well-advised to heed the signals that the high had been reached for this cycle and get off at the next stop, Questor explained.

Indeed, Mike Prew, managing director at Jefferies, called the 'top' last August and he had a compelling case.

For starters, demand from petrodollar-rich sovereign wealth funds had been seriously undermined by the plummeting drop in oil prices.

On top of that, in February investors in the UK pulled out their money from the sector at the fastest pace since 2008.

The then there were the supply-side arguments to consider, what with 26m square feet of new office space - the equivalent of 40 new Gherkins - set to hit the market like a ton of bricks over the next fopur years, Questor said.

Growth in financial services and technology was also slowing down.

Brexit a risk for foreign investors.

Yes, but that's not all.

Listed REITs have the majority of their property in London and if Sadiq Khan won the London Mayoral elections his plans were to introduce a range of measures to curb foreign investment into the London markets - at the expense of residents.

Rental incomes for the likes of British Land would also be particularly hard-hit if the UK grocery sector came under renewed stress.

Dividend cover at 1.3 for commercial property was also low, while shares in British Land and Land Securities were changing hands at price-to-earnings multiples north of 20 despite the price of their stock having dropped by 20% in the past six months.

"Time to sell".

Customer churn at Sky is a concern, but it may be overplayed, The Times's Tempus said.

The percentage of customers leaving the company rose over the past nine months rose in the UK, Ireland and Italy.

Sky said that was nothing to worry about, pointing to the loss of the Eufa Champions League football rights in Italy and saying it was now a much larger company.

Perhaps, but the full-year figures will make for interesting reading nevertheless.

Costs for broadcasting live football are spiralling too, with rivals such as BT possibly joining the fray in a bid to increase their pay offering.

Nonetheless, Sky keeps on bolting on new products while keeping cost growth under control, with cost-cutting targets on-track to be met too.

"At 14 times' 2017-18 profits the share price drop should be seen as a buying opportunity, but for the long-term," Tempus said.