Last year was highly successful for newspaper share tips. The Daily Telegraph's portfolio soared by a stonking 206%, outperforming the FTSE All-share over nine times. The Daily Telegraph's star choice – also tipped by The Independent and The Sunday Times – was internet security firm Baltimore Technologies, which rose from 430p to £48.671/2 p, a stunning 1032%. Even without Baltimore, The Daily Telegraph's portfolio grew a respectable 41%. The only bad performer was Marks & Spencer, which nose-dived 29.5%.

Mirror City Slickers Anil Bhoyrul and James Hipwell made an impressive debut in second place with +159%. Their best choice was Scoot.com, the online listings service tipped at 20p. The stock rose 625% to 145p. The Sunday Times turned in an extremely healthy 120% gain despite the fact that shares in one of its 33 recommendations – Versailles – were suspended for accounting regularities. The 1999 results contrast sharply with those of 1998. Half the papers actually lost money last year – despite a 14.5% rise in the FTSE 100 and an 11% rise in the FTSE All-share. Judged on three-year performance, the Daily Mail came top with an average 74.33% growth – outdoing the FTSE 100 and All-share indexes three and four times respectively. A close second was The Telegraph, whose top result last year compensated for mediocre performance in 1998 and 1997.