Berenberg hikes target price on John Wood

10th May 2024 10:10

(Sharecast News) - Analysts at Berenberg raised their target price on engineering and consulting business John Wood Group from 150.0p to 220.0p on Friday following the group's first-quarter trading statement that came hot on the heels of news that it had rejected a takeover bid at 205.0p per share.

John Wood said Q1 revenues were lighter but Berenberg also noted that encouragingly, underlying earnings had grown 4% despite the lower sales. Further growth was also expected as 2024 guidance of high-single-digit EBITDA growth was confirmed.

However, Berenberg said working capital movements were likely to see year-end net debt higher than previously thought.

The German bank added that a recent takeover approach from Sidara had been the near-term driver of performance, and it believes "a significant upside risk remains" due to the potential for further bids.

"However, if Sidara does not ultimately make an offer then we could see a large sell-off in the shares. We assume a 50:50 probability between a follow-up bid around the 240.0p level and no bid materialising, which underpins our price target of 200.0p," said Berenberg, which reiterated its 'hold' rating on the stock.

"We make minor changes to our estimates, nudging up our margin assumptions given the encouraging start to the year, but increase our net-debt estimates."

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com