Stock markets are intended to help companies grow. However, that theory has been sorely tested this year, with many firms hit by a cruel combination of economic uncertainty and investor apathy.
Rachel Reeves’s Budget made matters worse but this is no time for investors to turn their backs on Britain.
Many UK stocks have huge potential. Often undervalued by the stock market, they have proved their resilience in recent years and shown they can move forward, even when conditions are tough.
Midas top picks for 2025 include four such businesses, drawn from very different markets but all expected to deliver real rewards for shareholders next year and beyond.
Assura
The NHS is in a mess. More than six million people are waiting for treatment and half of them have been on waiting lists for four months or more. Cancer targets are continually missed, A&E waiting times are a national disgrace, and GPs are stretched to breaking point.
To cap it all, the nation is becoming less healthy, with obesity levels rising, heart disease increasing, and life expectancy falling in the poorest parts of Britain.
Change is needed – and Assura is helping to provide this. It designs, builds and manages healthcare facilities, from GP surgeries and NHS training centres to mental health units and private hospitals. Today, Assura has about 620 properties, two-thirds of which are GP surgeries, while private hospitals account for a quarter of the group.
Many households regard private hospitals as greedy, price-gouging businesses. However, these are not just used by wealthy clients but also the NHS, helping to shorten waiting times and offering specialist services that the state simply cannot afford.
Nuffield Health for example, Assura’s largest customer on the private side, is a charity focused on community wellbeing.
Assura designs, builds and manages healthcare facilities, from GP surgeries and NHS training centres to mental health units and private hospitals (picture posed by models)
On the GP front, Assura surgeries are often modern and purpose-built, designed in consultation with doctors to create an environment that works for patients and medics alike.
Chief executive Jonathan Murphy joined the group as finance director in 2013, rising to the top job four years later.
Well regarded, Murphy is determined to build a business that improves Britain’s health and delivers rewards for investors.
Earnings and dividends have risen steadily over the past decade and last summer, Murphy spent £500 million on a portfolio of 14 hospitals, which are expected to drive growth for 2025 and beyond.
Even after splashing out on the new assets, Assura is still forecast to increase dividends by 3 per cent to 3.3 p in the year to March 2025, putting the shares on a generous 8.5 per cent yield.
Midas verdict: Property firms have been savaged recently and Assura is no exception, with its shares almost halving in value since 2022. This seems excessive.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting is determined to make his mark and Assura is well positioned to benefit, as the government strives to ease pressure on the Health Service by encouraging greater use of GP surgeries and private hospitals. At 38p, the shares offer long-term growth and highly attractive dividends. Buy.
Traded on: Main market
Ticker: AGR
Contact: assuraplc.com
Telecom Plus
American statesman Benjamin Franklin is credited with coining the phrase that nothing in this world is certain except death and taxes. But its first recorded mention was actually in a work by British playwright Christopher Bullock. For most of us today, though, another certainty is monthly bills.
Never welcome, their number seems to increase on a regular basis – gas, electricity, broadband, mobile, insurance, plus numerous subscriptions to everything from TV to toilet paper.
Telecom Plus aims to simplify customers’ lives, with one bill covering energy, internet use, mobile phones and home insurance. Starting out from a pub in Henley-on-Thames in 1996, the company has more than a million customers and is valued on the stock market at almost £1.4 billion.
Operating under the brand name Utility Warehouse, the group is focused on delivering top-tier service, ease of use and consistently competitive pricing.
Accolades and awards suggest that the business is true to its word, as it has just been ranked number one for energy by Citizens Advice. Not only does Telecom Plus differ from peers in the range of services on offer, but it also acquires customers primarily by recommendations from existing users.
Ordinary people – teachers, nurses, firefighters, police – tell friends, family or neighbours about Utility Warehouse and are rewarded for every person that they convert.
Payment comes as a percentage of the new customer’s bill – generally about 2.5 per cent – and for serial recommenders, known as agents, the rewards can be substantial, stretching to hundreds of pounds a year.
The system is highly unusual but it works, with customer numbers – and profits – growing by more than 10 per cent a year for the past three years and set to continue.
Chief executive Stuart Burnett is keen to double customer numbers to two million over the next five to seven years and add more services to his roster, with motor and pet insurance high on his list.
Customers receive a loyalty card too, which takes money off their bill when they buy goods at chains such as Sainsbury’s and Boots.
Savings can run into hundreds of pounds for committed customers. The more customers join the group, the more profitable it becomes and the more dividends can be paid to shareholders.
Shares guru Joanne Hart recommends that you buy and hold shares in Telecom Plus
Brokers forecast a dividend of 94p for the year to March 2025, rising to £1.07 the following year and £1.18 in 2027. With the shares at £17.28, that puts Telecom Plus on a yield of almost 5.5 per cent.
Midas verdict: Telecom Plus shares peaked at more than £25 two years ago, when energy prices were soaring and inflation was rampant. They have fallen 30 per cent since then to £17.28, with investors worried that new customers will be harder to find in today’s environment.
Evidence to date would suggest otherwise and the shares should bounce back in 2025 and beyond. Buy and hold.
Traded on: Main market
Ticker: TEP
Contact: telecomplus.co.uk
Distribution Finance Capital
Staycations came into their own after the Covid pandemic and many holidaymakers decided they preferred them.
More than 500,000 caravans trundle round the UK each year, demand for campervans and motorhomes has been soaring, and sales of new vehicles top 25,000 annually. Manchester-based Distribution Finance (DF) Capital oils the wheels of this market and its prospects are bright.
The company provides finance to hundreds of dealers nationwide, via loans that are repaid as soon as vehicles are sold. Loans are subsidised by manufacturers so DF works with these firms as well, ensuring processes run smoothly from start to finish.
Founded in 2016 by a trio of financial specialists who cut their teeth at US giant GE Capital, DF aims to stand out from larger competitors through a combination of top-tier technology and old-fashioned, personal service.
Rivals tend to be large banks, saddled with legacy IT. DF has built its own systems, which are easy to use by makers and dealers.
Motorhomes and caravans account for about a quarter of DF’s business. However, the group operates in several other areas too, from boats and motorbikes to pre-fabricated holiday homes and lodges for retirement communities. The latter are increasingly popular for older couples looking to downsize, release some funds and have fun in their senior years.
Trading is brisk across the group. Working with almost 100 manufacturers and about 1,200 dealers, DF is growing fast.
Chief executive Carl D’Ammassa revealed earlier this month that results for 2024 would be significantly ahead of expectations with profits of more than £18.5 million, a fourfold increase over 2023.
There are high hopes for 2025 as well, with D’Ammassa planning to offer loans not just to dealers but to their customers too.
The motor finance market has become enmeshed in scandal, with dealers and lenders accused of hiding commissions and overcharging customers. DF Capital will focus on specialist vehicles rather than cars, but should benefit as lenders across the industry struggle with past problems.
D’Ammassa intends to start small as well, so he can be choosy in his choice of customers and keep credit quality high.
DF runs a fully licensed savings bank too, financing its lending activity by offering consumers attractive rates, simple online processes and, again, friendly personal service for those who need it.
Midas verdicT: Distribution Finance shares topped £1.30 in 2019. Today, they are 36p, hit by concerns about Covid, high interest rates and the collapse of a troublesome manufacturer, Royale Life, in 2023.
That issue has been resolved, important lessons have been learned and DF shares have come off earlier lows. However, they are still too cheap at 36p and should deliver strong growth in 2025 and beyond. Buy.
Traded on: Aim
Ticker: DFCH
Contact: dfcapital-investors.com
IIG
Gambling in China dates back at least 3,000 years, starting with an ancient precursor to chess, known as liubo.
Today, however, most forms of gambling are illegal in the People’s Republic, with two notable exceptions: the Welfare Lottery and the Sports Lottery, both of which are state-owned.
Here too, there are restrictions, with lottery tickets historically available at just 200,000 designated shops, scattered across a country almost 40 times larger than Britain.
Chinese New Year lottery tickets. About 100 million Chinese play the lottery today, out of a population of 1.4 billion
Ten years ago, Englishman Daniel Levine and his Chinese colleague Frank Li Tong decided this presented a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to drag Chinese lottery systems into the modern era and allow consumers to buy tickets online.
The duo founded Hui10 to bring their idea to fruition and in 2023, UK-listed Intuitive Investments Group (IIG) acquired the business via a $365 million all-share deal.
Aim-listed IIG boasts an impressive team. Chief executive Robert Naylor and chief investment officer Giles Willits have made serious money for shareholders in recent roles and hope to do the same again. Chairman Sir Nigel Rudd has a 40-year history of backing winners and believes Hui10 will turn IIG into a FTSE 100 business, so much so that he has persuaded top financiers to invest in the company.
At the coalface, Levine and Tong have spent the past decade working with Chinese government bodies and local businesses. Now they are on the cusp of delivery.
Systems have been approved and steps are under way to make China’s lottery digital, including trial runs in certain parts of the country and promotional schemes with giants such as AliBaba, the Chinese equivalent of Amazon.
A full roll-out is expected next year and the stakes are high. About 100 million Chinese play the lottery today, out of a population of 1.4 billion.
If China were to follow the UK and America, those numbers could rise to at least 300 million over the next five years, sending IIG revenues from virtually nothing today to more than £1.5 billion, with profits running into hundreds of millions of pounds.
Midas verdict: IIG shares are £1.10 today. If all goes according to plan, the stock could soar. Like any early-stage business, IIG is not without risk. But the board is top drawer, backers are savvy and Hui10 is determined to succeed. An appealing punt for the adventurous investor.
Traded on: Aim
Ticker: IIG
Contact: iigplc.com