Travis Perkins 'likely' to miss profit forecasts, says Jefferies
Jefferies has repeated its 'underperform' rating for Travis Perkins Plc as its previewed the builders merchant's annual results announcement next month, saying it expects full-year profits to miss forecasts.
The broker downgraded its rating from 'hold' just last month, ahead of the appointment of new boss Gavin Slark in January, saying that the stock's "elevated valuations leave risk/reward negatively skewed under the new CEO".
Ahead of Travis Perkins' results on 17 March, analyst Priyal Woolf said she expects the company to report a weak end to 2025.
"With the UK Budget known to have dampened UK construction, we expect LfL sales momentum to ebb into 4Q25, adding to our view that a FY25 profit miss looks likely and FY26 commentary may add more downward pressure," Woolf said.
"However, with FY25 the new CEO's first results, excitement about his initial strategic comments could offer some positive offset to sentiment, albeit we expect subsequent progress to be slow-burning while the market backdrop remains difficult."
The broker has a 531p target price for the stock, which was down 2.3% at 651.5p by 1335 GMT.
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