City File: Punt on pipes

WHEN a company announces a near-pounds 20m loss on turnover of pounds 100m and the shares barely blink, the market is clearly anticipating a speedy recovery.

With Brown & Tawse, the until recently unbelievably fuddy-duddy steel and pipe stockholder, the market is almost certainly right.

A new chief executive, Richard Wilson from GKN, has lost no time in installing his own management team and streamlining B&T's previously cumbersome distribution network. At 67p, near the high for the year, B&T is still worth a punt.