Independent UK mortgage lenders will not be as affected by the government’s new 3% stamp duty surcharge for buy-to-let properties as the big banks, according to Shore Capital.
On Wednesday, the Chancellor introduced the policy in his Autumn Statement, and in the short term, lenders could see a spike in demand for mortgages from landlords looking to get into the market before it comes into effect next year.
But around half of lending is related to re-mortgaging, which would not be impacted by the stamp duty surcharge.
Also exempt are landlords with more than 15 properties who run their buy-to-let business as a business.
Shore Capital said: “This kind of borrower is a relatively high proportion of the customer base for the specialist lenders such as Paragon (LON:PAG), OneSavings Bank (LON:OAB), Aldermore (LON:ALD) and Shawbrook (LON:SHAW), when compared to the mainstream lenders like Virgin Money (LON:VM.) and Lloyds (LON:LLOY).”
Soft drinks maker Britvic (LON:BVIC) was boosted on Thursday by a double broker upgrade.
Deutsche Bank said the J2O maker’s full year results were a step toward long-term international expansion, though noted the competition in sector could make the move difficult.
The broker reiterated its ‘hold’ rating on the stock, but upped its target price to 775p from 750p.
US heavyweight Goldman Sachs was more bullish on Britvic’s chances for international expansion, with a ‘conviction buy’ on the company’s shares.
It too upped its target price to 833p from 795p.
Britvic was one of a whole host of companies to have their target price hiked by the broker, including sugar maker Tate & Lyle (LON:TATE), which was upped some 145p to 615p from 470p.
Imperial Tobacco (LON:IMT) was also in the broker’s good books, as Goldman reiterated its ‘conviction buy’ rating and lit up its target price to 3,900p from 3,700p.
On the negative side, Peel Hunt remains bullish on the oil sector, but has slashed a number of its target prices.
While it reiterated its ‘buy’ rating on both Faroe Petroleum (LON:FPM) and Chariot Oil & Gas (LON:CHAR) the broker cut its target price to 100p from 104p and 15p from 25p respectively.