logo-loader

Brokers: Land Securities, British Land Co and Intu moved down

Last updated: 11:11 28 Jun 2016 BST, First published: 09:11 28 Jun 2016 BST

a skyscraper

As the effects of last week’s EU referendum continue to rumble the markets, brokers have turned evermore bearish on property investment firms.

Credit Suisse downgraded a whole host of the stocks today, cutting its share price targets for Land Securities Group (LON:LAND); British Land Co PLC (LON:BLND); Capital & Counties Properties PLC (LON:CAPC); and Intu Properties PLC (LON:INTU).

In its note today, the Swiss financial services company said it remains cautious on the sector as “the political disarray sparked by the UK’s pending exit from the EU presents a highly uncertain and negative medium-term outlook” for the sector.

Credit Suisse has also lowered its like-for-like rental growth expectations for real estate investment trusts (REITs) on the prospect of lower economic growth.

Airlines continue to suffer post-Brexit as well, with Liberum downgrading International Consolidated Airlines Group (LON:IAG) to ‘hold’ from ‘buy’ and has slashed its target price to 375p from 875p.

Easyjet PLC (LON:EZJ) suffered more broker downgrades following on from yesterday’s downbeat forecast from Cantor Fitzgerald.

Liberum moved the stock down to a ‘hold’ recommendation from its previous ‘buy’ and almost halved its target price to 1050p from 1950p.

The broker noted that the forward booking had been “softer” than anticipated, a trend unlikely to be helped by Brexit.

Liberum also commented on the relatively cheap share price, although it added that “uncertainty trumps attractive valuation”.

Citigroup went a little easier on the budget airline, as it reiterated a ‘buy’ recommendation, although it did trim its target price to 1600p from 1800p.

Like Liberum, it also noted the potential “impact of consumer uncertainty in the aftermath of the EU referendum” and cut its profit before tax estimates for this year by 12% to £642mln.

The same bank has also downgraded discount chain store Poundland Group PLC (LON:PLND) has been downgraded to ‘neutral’ from a ‘buy’ recommendation.

Citi estimates that “existing EBIT (earnings before interest and tax) margins could decline to 2.0% in FY18” and believes that Brexit could also affect consumer confidence in years to come.

Broker Peel Hunt also cut its share price target for Poundland by 17% to 250p, although it still reiterated its ‘buy’ recommendation for the stock.

HANetf founder and co-CEO discusses shift to active management in ETF market

HANetf founder and co-CEO Hector McNeil tells Proactive's Stephen Gunnion about shifting trends in the exchange-traded fund (ETF) market in the United States, indicating a big move towards active management within ETFs. Despite the European market lagging behind the US by three to five years,...

13 hours, 59 minutes ago