Currys PLC (LSE:CURY) corporate broker Panmure Liberum maintained its 'buy' rating and 200p target price, saying the strong start to the financial year created meaningful upgrade potential because of the group's high operational gearing.
The broker estimated that each one percentage point increase in like-for-like (LFL) sales across the UK, Ireland and the Nordics would add around £12.5 million to group profit, equivalent to 6.5% of financial year 2026 adjusted pre-tax profit.
Panmure said the UK and Ireland business had gained market share in all major categories despite a broadly flat market, with growth supported by new categories, business-to-business sales and higher-margin recurring services.
In the Nordics, the broker said sales growth was broad-based across stores and online.
With UK and Ireland LFL revenue up 6% and Nordic LFL revenue up 9% in the first 17 weeks, Panmure said the acceleration represented a meaningful step-change in trading and created significant earnings upside.
Peel Hunt, the mid-market broker, also maintained its 'buy' rating for Currys with a 182p target price, and said it expected to push through a profit forecast upgrade of between 1% and 3% on the strength of the figures.
Peel Hunt noted that the first half of the financial year typically represents only 10% to 15% of full-year profit, and said significant delivery over the peak trading period was required before larger upgrades could be justified.
The investment bank highlighted that the shares traded on fewer than 10 times forecast earnings, while Panmure Liberum's valuation showed a 10.3 times 2027 price-to-earnings multiple.
