BT Group PLC (LON:BT.A) has been upgraded to ‘equal weight’ from ‘underweight’ by analysts at Barclays, who said plans by the company’s fibre broadband arm Openreach to expand its offering to more homes will be “broadly positive” for the telecoms group.
In a note on Tuesday, Barclays also upped their price target to 130p from 115p, saying Openreach’s plans to build fibre to premises (FTTP) for 20mln more homes over the next 5-10 years, which will require favourable regulation and wholesale deals with major UK service providers, “could happen shortly”.
READ: BT insists it's not selling a stake in Openreach
“We would anticipate a deal to appear broadly supportive for BT, especially in the context of the implication for Openreach’s value”, Barclays said, adding that the company’s current valuation as “relatively undemanding”.
“With Telcos generally performing well this quarter we see positive catalysts ahead”, they concluded.
Shares in BT were 0.8% higher at 109p in lunchtime trading.