BEST OF THE BROKERS
LAIRD
UBS downgraded the engineer from “buy” to “neutral” and increased the target price from 190p to 198p after its recent sale of the loss-making handset antennae business in China for £20m.
The Swiss bank added: “We note that the underlying growth drivers remain intact and as such expect continued momentum in the business, but the valuation is now quite full in our view.”
CHIME COMMUNICATIONS
Investec kept Chime Communications as a “buy” and lowered the target price from 238p to 230p. The firm, run by Lord Bell, Margaret Thatcher’s former public relations adviser, is scaling up its Sports division with acquisitions to offset the PR “profit gap” after the rundown of a US contract and “some other international PR weakness”, Investec said.
The broker added that Chime’s shares could “drift in the near term”.
TED BAKER
Panmure re-instated its “hold” rating and moved the price target from 765p to 783p after the British designer clothing brand reported a surge in retail sales and said it planned more international store openings in North America and Asia in 2012. Panmure reduced its 2013 profit estimate mainly due to expectations of a higher interest payment but added: “Ted Baker remains one of the fastest growing retail stories in our coverage.”