Wednesday newspaper share tips: Asos, Premier Oil

The trick lay in growing your company's sales quickly enough and as Asos's latest trading update revealed it was managing to do that quite well, the tipster explained.

Sales in the June quarter clocked in at a rate of growth of 30%, sending the shares promptly higher.

Asos was also successfully pursuing growth in the US market, with revenues in constant currency terms higher by 39% in the States, much more than in any other region.

Furthermore, the digital fashion retailer stood to gain from the drop in sterling, what with over half of its sales coming from overseas while four-fifths of its costs were denominated in pounds.

"After a brutal correction in 2014, the market loves Asos again," Lex concluded.

Things were looking up for Premier Oil, despite which The Times's Tempus advised readers to 'take profits'.

Nonetheless, Tempus was not concerned by the oil explorer's level of debt, which was still at $2.6bn.

Premier Oil was negotiating an extension to the duration of its debts and not much was repayable over the next couple of years anyhow, Tempus said.

In parallel, oil production was starting to ramp-up at its Solan field in the North Sea, which meant the outfit was finally turning cash-positive.

Another big project in the North Sea, the Catcher field, was due to come on-stream in the backhalf of 2016, buttressing the company's cashflow.

The company's purchase of North Sea assets from Germany's E.On should also pay off in time, Tempus said, and flows from Solan would give the company further 'room-to-manouvre' on deals.

Depending on where the oil price was at in 2017 Premier might also be able to find a partner to help fund its Sea Lion project, offshore the Falklands.

Nevertheless, given the sharp run-up in the share price Tempus said: "I like them long-term, but anyone who took my advice and bought might now consider taking some profits."