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Deutsche upbeat on European airlines

Last updated: 11:00 19 Oct 2015 BST, First published: 09:13 19 Oct 2015 BST

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Deutsche says it expects strong third quarter numbers from the European airlines.

"Most have reported record load factors and our data suggests demand is not being driven by price. Qualitative management commentary has been positive, and corroborated by the tour operators and consumer spending data," said analyst Anand Date.

The broker's top picks are easyJet (LON:EZJ), whose target price is moved to 1,950p from 1,915p, and IAG (LON:IAG) - target price 760p and Ryanair (LON:RYA) - all of which are rated as a 'buy'.

Elsewhere, Associated British Foods (LON:ABF), the owner of retailer Primark, is clipped back to 'hold' from 'buy' by German bank Berenberg (after an upgrade to buy in February this year).

The move is based on foreign exchange factors and short term magin impact on Primark,  it said.

But the broker added: "We remain confident about the group’s long term potential, in particular from the roll-out of the Primark concept across Europe (worth GBP27.50 per share standalone with further upside potential in the US).

"However, with now just 1% growth forecast for 2016, it is hard to see a catalyst for a stock trading on 31.5x calendar 2016 P/E that is still subject to volatility in commodities, with excitement over US Primark opening priced in."

Numis is another broker on Monday, which looks at ABF following a visit to  the opening of Primark’s 41st store in Spain.

It rates the shares a 'hold' and has lifted the target price to 3,055p from 2,836p previously.

"The new 132,000 sq ft. Primark store on Gran Via in Central Madrid has alone added 1.2% to the end FY 14/15 sq footage total. It has also added the first high street store in Spain and the second largest in the group (after Manchester with 150,000 sq ft)," the broker noted.

Meanwhile, today, it was announced that broadcaster ITV (LON:ITV) is buying Northern Ireland peer UTV Ltd (LON:UTV) for £100mln, tightening its grip over the British channel three network.

ITV said the deal, funded through its existing cash and debt, would strengthen its free-to-air business in the UK and allow it to improve efficiency.

It said the merged business would benefit from ITV's continued investment in programming, its advertising sales team and broadcast infrastructure.

Broker Peel Hunt rates UTV  a 'buy' after the news, and targets 195p a share. UTV shares rose 6.2% on the day, to stand at 184.25p.

"Initially the proceeds will be used to repay current debt, however the company has indicated it will return excess capital to shareholders to leave the group indebted to an amount equal to 2x EBITDA," said the broker.

Oxford Instruments (LON:OXIG) shares fell over 10% after heavyweight Goldman Sachs downgraded the shares to ‘neutral’ from ‘buy’ today.

The broker noted that since being added to the ‘buy’ list in September 2012, the stock is down 49.4%, compared to the FTSE World Europe up 19.9%.

In smaller caps, Panmure repeats a 'buy' on fund management software firm Statpro (LON:SOG) today, saying it is one of the cheapest shares in the financial tech universe.

Earlier, the group revealed that annualised recurring revenue from its cloud-based offering, Revolution, rose a whopping 68% to £7.2mln in the 12 months to end September, from £4.3mln in the prior 12 months.

Analyst George O'Connor said the evidence suggested the group was trading well into the fourth quarter.

Panmure also lifts its target price slightly to 106p from 103p previously.

Shares today rose 1.31% to stand at 77.50p a pop.

Elsewhere, at full production, Paragon Diamonds' (LON:PRG) two mines in Lesotho would be comparable to Gem Diamonds' nearby world-class Letseng mine - at over 100,000 carats a year, says Allenby Capital.

Such output would generate annual gross revenues of more than £110mln and free cash flows of around £40mln, notes analyst Myles McNulty, who adds that the stock is a high risk/reward play over the very short term.

The AIM firm is currently in the final stages of signing a US$15mln financing deal (which is not yet completed, the broker notes) from Acrux Resources to close its acquisition of the Mothae mine from Lucara and to push the two sites to initial production.

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