BEST of the BROKERS
BRITVIC
Numis rates the drinks firm “hold” and has a target price of 320p. The broker thinks the miserable weather has dampened Britvic’s third quarter sales, having endured the wettest June on record, and reckons the firm will see a 2.1 per cent drop in revenues to £318.2m, dragging annual growth to 0.1 per cent.
MONEYSUPERMARKET
UBS has upgraded the price comparison site from “neutral” to “buy” and has inched up its target price from 7.58p to 7.76p. The broker thinks the firm’s recent acquisition of Money Saving Expert reduces its reliance on Google for customer leads and adds 16 per cent to earnings.
HALFORDS
Seymour Pierce rates the retailer “hold” but has cut its target price from 270p to 220p. The broker now expects Halfords to report a six per cent fall in like-for-like sales in its first quarter update on 19 July, and in the long-term is worried about management’s track record of squeezing costs too hard in order to hit targets.