Traders urged to keep dining out on Just Eat
The folks at UBS appeared to have a case of the munchies as its two substantive pieces of research yesterday focused on the fast food sector. As joint broker to beleaguered
Just Eat, it provided a supportive ‘buy’ recommendation for shares in the takeaway delivery group, though it did cut its price target to 870p a share from 930p.
The group is reeling from the departure of its chief executive and has been called out by an activist investor that thinks it should merge with a rival.
however, UBS believes the current share price (up 1.5pc, or 5.6p, to 742p) undervalues Just eat’s prospects, with orders expected to grow 11pc this year.
The London arm of the Swiss investment bank adopted a more bearish stance on Greggs, maker of the steak bake. Downgrading to ‘neutral’ from ‘ buy’, it reckons stock in the Newcastle-based chain now fully reflects its fairly resilient trading outlook.
Down 1.1pc, or 17p at 1558p, Greggs has grown around 65pc in value since hitting a year-low in August last year.
The AA last night claimed its turnaround plan was on track but admitted membership numbers were falling. Shares closed up 0.1p, or 0.1pc, to 91.9p.
The FTSE 100 flip-flopped all day before closing a lacklustre session up 4.03 points at 7133.14.
Leading the blue- chip fallers was Tui, with the owner of First Choice holidays, falling 7.5pc, or 71.4p, to 886.8p as its results bore the scars of last year’s barbecue summer and the weak pound.
After an earnings alert last week there weren’t too many surprises on the outlook and current trading. however, the results dragged on other travel-related stocks such as Easyjet, down 1.7pc, or 21.5p to 1265.5p, cruise operator
Carnival, down 0.6pc, or 26p, to 4301p, and British Airways owner
IAG which lost 1.7pc, or 11p, of altitude to finish at 652.6p.
Goldman Sachs weighed in on the miners with an upgrade to ‘buy’ on Rio Tinto (up 0.2pc, or 7.5p at 4294.5p), while downgrading BHP Billiton (ahead 0.3pc, or 5.8p at 1730.8p) to ‘neutral’.
In a sector review, the influential US broker said Rio is set to benefit from higher iron ore price, noting that since the breach of a tailings dam at a Vale-owned mine in Brazil last month, prices have risen by around 16pc.
On the FTSe 250, spread betting outfit IG Group fell 4.3pc, or 26.5p, to 590.5p.
elsewhere, Indivior dipped 2.3pc, or 2.35p, to 104.7p after the failure of its legal attempt to thwart the release of cheap copycat versions of its star drug, suboxone. It was a decent day for followers of remote meetings technology specialist Loopup
Group which rose 7.7pc, or 25p, to 350p as it said profitability in 2018 was ‘ comfortably ahead’ of consensus expectations.
Tech tiddler Mporium rose 12.2pc, or 0.6p at 5.5p, after it saw a significant ramp-up in revenues after inking a lead generation deal. Firestone Diamonds sparkled and spiked 7.4pc, or 0.2p, to 2.90p after it uncovered a 70-carat whopper from its Lesotho mine. A smaller 40-carat stone it unearthed sold in December for £775,000.
There was a boost for Kodal Minerals – up 9.5pc, or 0.02p, to 0.18p – after it unveiled its latest exploration drilling results from a lithium project in Mali.
But it has been a tough month for Ebiquity with the shares down around 45pc in that time.
A trading statement from the marketing and media services group did little to lift the spirits as the company’s shares fell 8.2pc, or 5p, to 56p, in the aftermath of what looked to be a fairly anodyne update.