BEST OF THE BROKERS
SUPERGROUP
Singer CM Equity Research slashed its price on SuperGroup after a difficult week. It cut the price 35 per cent to 970p after the clothing firm reported extra warehousing costs and a sales shortfall. Singer retained the “buy” rating but said: “When a business is expanding at such a rapid rate one would expect there to be some growing pains, unfortunately for SuperGroup it has experienced several hiccups in its short life as a quoted company.”
GOALS SOCCER CENTRES
Altium Securities upgraded Goals Soccer Centres to a “buy” after what it described as “significant share price underperformance”. It welcomed the plan for a lower cost modular build for Goal’s centres although it complained this was overdue. “The shares are now discounting too much. There remains substantial organic growth potential and the two main competitors are not really expanding at all.
AXIS-SHIELD
Numis switched Axis-Shield from “add” to “hold” after the medical diagnostics firm said it had agreed to be bought by larger peer Alere. It set a target of 470p, matching the per share offer price. Numis said: “We believe that chance of the deal going through is now high.”
Axis-Shield still believes the offer undervalues the company “but appears to see little other option at this point”, Numis added.