LONDON (ShareCast) - (ShareCast News) - Outsourcing firm Mitie Group was trading higher at the start of the week after analysts at Jefferies made a double upgrade to its recommendation to 'buy'.
Shares in the FTSE 250-listed company were up more than 4% off the back of the upgrade from the previous recommendation of 'underperform'.

Mitie's target price was also raised by the analysts to 290p from 220p, as they noted that a sale of its property management division would allow it to become more profitable.

"In our view, the transaction could raise £70m, reduce ND/EBITDA by 0.5x and would be a key step towards de-risking Mitie's balance sheet," Jefferies said.

Mitie sounded a profit warning in September, and is due to report its third-quarter results on 20 November.

"The September profit warning provided a welcome reminder that Mitie's path to rehabilitation will not be smooth. However, initial over-exuberance in the selfhelp story has ebbed, the shares trade close to 15-year relative lows and selling Property Management would help to de-risk the balance sheet."

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