Broker snap: Sage a 'hold' ahead of interims, says Panmure

26th Apr 2013 12:44

Panmure Gordon has kept its 'hold' rating and 309p target price for accountancy software group Sage ahead of its interim results in May."The mixture of a poor macro, on-going challenges in Europe, a punchy valuation, the share price ahead of our target price and downgrades from the peer group mean that investors are likely to be nervous ahead of Sage's interim results," said analysts George O'Connor and Adam Lawson.Nevertheless, they expect the results to be in line and forecast revenue of £700.3m, profit before tax of £181.8m and a dividend of 3.6p per share, slightly ahead of consensus estimates."Despite the fact that profit-taking seems a reasonable outcome on results day, we nonetheless retain our 'hold'. "We admit that we would like to 're-load' Sage at some stage - but not yet, as the company's new sales, products, routes to market, branding initiatives and returns to shareholders - pleasing though they are - have yet to impact that growth."The stock was down 1.37% at 339.1p by 12:48.BC