Broker tips: Jupiter Fund Management, M&C Saatchi, Inchcape, AB Foods
By Iain Gilbert
Date: Thursday 18 Sep 2025
(Sharecast News) - Jupiter Fund Management surged on Thursday as Peel Hunt upgraded the shares to 'buy' from 'add' and hiked its price target on the stock to 156p from 90p.
Peel Hunt said Jupiter's acquisition of CCLA - a manager of money for UK charities - will drive earnings growth.
Peel Hunt said upgrades don't come much bigger than this, and noted that the CCLA acquisition appears strategically sensible and delivers the scale needed.
Combining performance fees this year and the acquisition next year, the broker lifted forecasts for FY25/26/27 by 83%, 51% and 66%, respectively.
Peel Hunt added that regardless of the flow environment, Jupiter was set to deliver attractive earnings growth in the coming years.
Analysts at Berenberg lowered their target price on advertising agency M&C Saatchi from 240p to 200p on Thursday following the group's interim results, released earlier in the morning.
Berenberg stated that due to client caution in Q2 following Donald Trump's "liberation day" tariff announcement, M&C had downgraded its like-for-like revenue guidance to a mid-single digit decline.
Berenberg noted that due to swift action taken on costs, M&C now expects full-year underlying earnings to be in line with last year, which resulted in an 8% downgrade to its underlying earnings forecast.
However, the German bank also said that with the shares having derated by 13% over the last three months, it believes that the market was already factoring in some of this weakness.
Berenberg added that M&C currently trades on a full-year price-to-earnings ratio of 9.4x, and a free cash flow yield of 5.5% on its new numbers.
UBS initiated coverage of car dealership Inchcape on Thursday with a 'buy' rating and 920p price target, saying it sees 40% upside potential.
The Swiss bank said Inchcape has a strong, intact, value proposition for automotive OEMs, with a diversified country and brand portfolio that offers "resilience in challenging conditions".
UBS said its unique new dataset shows that volumes have steadily outperformed end-markets over the long term, and in the short term look on track to deliver a required reacceleration in the second half of 2025," UBS said.
"Despite challenging auto markets, we expect Inchcape to achieve steady market-share gains, stable margins and strong cash conversion - which results in a forecast +5% FY'25-29 estimated profit compound annual growth rate and a sustainable circa 10% cash return per annum."
Shore Capital has kept a 'buy' rating on Associated British Foods despite a "mellow" trading update from the food and retail company last week, saying that it still sees upside following a disappointing run in the shares so far this year.
ABF shares dropped last week after the company reported that it was facing a number of challenges, from weaker shopper sentiment in France to oversupplied sugar markets across Europe and a flat performance at its Primark division.
As a result, Shore Capital has cut its EPS estimates for the year to 13 September by 1.8% to 170.4p, implying a 14% year-on-year fall. The broker also reduced forecasts for the following year, saying that a recovery in the struggling Sugar division "may be a bit further out than [the company] first thought".
Nevertheless, Shore Capital kept an optimistic view on the shares, saying: "The stock trades on disappointing multiples, reflecting the news flow of 2025, where EPS is forecast to fall by c.14% YoY. However, whilst a poor equity performer this year, the investment programme, financial constitution and prospects for the firm mean we see value and so keep our somewhat bruised 'buy' stance."
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