Hard enough for second-line Irish companies to register on the international radar screen, so one will have been glad to have got a good write-up from British investment adviser, Jim Slater. Slater writes in his latest Investment Ideas newsletter that IFG "is a fast-growing financial services group which has grown its earnings per share by an impressive 40 per cent compound over the past six years.

IFG's core Irish operation is involved in life insurance, pensions, endowment policy trading and arranging mortgages. In Britain it has a consulting actuary business and an independent financial advisory arm.

Slater writes that "with such a diverse range of operations, IFG's long term strategy is not immediately apparent." But he says any uncertainty is more than discounted by its attractive rating. At the current price of around €0.90 it is on a prospective price/earnings ratio of 8 for the year to December on the basis of NCB's profit forecast eps of 11.1 cents, falling to 7 for next year. This, Slater says, is a "ridiculously low ".