First players win cash as game heats up

The FIFA World Cup ends today, but our free Investor of the Year competition, sponsored by stockbroker The Share Centre, is just beginning to hot up.

Remember you can enter your portfolio of shares at any time and qualify for monthly prizes worth £1,400. Just go to www.investoroftheyear.co.uk for details and conditions. In the table below we show the five leading game players who have kicked off the battle for our £10,000 annual grand prize, winning the first set of monthly prizes in the process.

Ian Rogers from Westcliff-on-Sea scoops first prize of £1,000 in cash after turning his initial £10,000-worth of fantasy cash into £11,752.08 during June. He was closely tracked by Gwyn Evans from Pembrokeshire, whose portfolio (evansgwyn74) increased by 16.42 per cent to £11,641.96. Our winners far exceeded the 1.7 per cent rise in the All-Share index in June. Evans and our three other runners-up receive £100 in cash for their efforts.

The current July issue of Money Observer magazine has plenty of tips for competitors who want investment guidance for the coming weeks. Heather Connon, investment editor of The Observer, has added two new companies to the monthly Share spotlight portfolio: security printer and papermaker De La Rue; and Dignity, the UK's largest single provider of funeral services.

Dignity's record since it joined the stock market in 2004 has been excellent and profits in the last year rose 17 per cent - the shares have doubled from the 230p flotation price to a current 484p.

De La Rue has found it difficult to make a profit from printing money in recent years, but in these uncertain markets it is 'reasonably predictable and generates good amounts of cash'. Chief executive Leo Quinn is also promising shareholders a return of capital, while decent profit growth is expected in the current trading year. The shares are currently a whisker below Money Observer's buying ceiling of 545p.

The commodities sector has been a great hit with investors, particularly mining and energy, but it's not necessarily the straightforward route to riches. So-called soft commodities, such as grain and sugar, are often overlooked in spite of rising prices. Associated British Foods, for example, has an enviably low-cost sugar business and has recently bought a large stake in South Africa's leading sugar producer, Illovo.

Elsewhere, ethanol producers look hot. In Brazil, around 50 per cent of cars run on ethanol instead of petrol, so demand for corn and sugar to produce the ethanol is high. You can find out which shares may benefit from a boom in demand for ethanol, rare earth metals and water shortages in the July issue.

But what do the creme de la creme of fund managers think? The Fund Manager Premier League survey, also in July, names the most consistent top-performance fund managers, as well as what they are holding in their funds. For example, Roger Whiteoak, who runs Framlington UK Smaller Companies, rates Intermediate Capital Group, a leader in mezzanine finance; Rathbones, a private client fund management group; Spring, involved in contract recruitment of information technology staff; RPC, a well-managed flexible packaging group; Fenners, a leader in industrial belting and seals; and Spectric, an international electronics controls group.

If you would like to get more top investment and financial planning tips, Money Observer is in the shops now. Alternatively you can subscribe and receive your first three issues free by visiting moneyobserver.com or by phoning 0870 870 1324 and quoting MIGM002 when asked for a promotion code.

Remember, you can still enter Investor of the Year. You won't be eligible for the grand prizes, but there are plenty of monthly awards up for grabs if you register a portfolio today. Simply head to investoroftheyear.co.uk and follow the instructions.

June's winners

1) Ian Rogers: 17.52 per cent

2) evansgwyn74: 16.42 per cent

3)RogueTrader: 15.78 per cent

4) Petite Arvine: 10.59 per cent

5) mongoose investing: 10.35 per cent