Broker tips: Workspace, Berkeley, Future
By Iain Gilbert
Date: Friday 24 Apr 2026
(Sharecast News) - Berenberg lowered its target price on Workspace Group from 503p to 401p per share on Friday as it pointed to a "period of transition ahead".
Berenberg said Workspace's strategic repositioning has "a logical long-term plan", with the group aiming to invest in and elevate its portfolio to capture sustained SME demand. However, it also noted that the path there "involves nearterm pain".
"Guidance for a 'substantial step down' in FY27 trading profit and an associated dividend rebasing has, for now, reset the investment case," said Berenberg.
"While the market has digested the FY27 earnings reduction, we believe FY28 will actually become the earnings (and dividend) trough for the business, before trading profit growth resumes in FY29."
The German bank, which has a 'buy' rating on the stock, said it had reached its new target price after incorporating its updated estimates into its EVA framework, with its new PR offer a 18% upside, which was toward the lower end of its coverage universe range.
"Greater visibility on the timing and pace of a recovery will give us the confidence to reduce the risk-profile associated with owning the shares today, and in so doing should justify a higher valuation multiple for the stock. Any indication our five-year earnings forecasts are conservatively set would produce further upside still" added Berenberg.
Deutsche Bank downgraded Berkeley Group to 'hold' from 'buy' on Friday and slashed its price target on the stock to 3,685p from 4,600p.
The bank noted that against a backdrop of subdued demand and a challenging regulatory environment, Berkeley has announced that it will cease buying land and will restrict WIP investment to prevailing rates of reservation.
"The consequence of this and continuing challenging markets, is that profit before tax is expected to decline more than 20% between FY26 and FY28," said DB, which highlighted that this results in return on equity trending at roughly 7%.
"This is marginally below FY26 NTA, which we think balances depressed near-term returns, with potential upside from the PRS venture and a market recovery."
Analysts at Canaccord Genuity slashed their target price on publishing firm Future from 733p to 358p on Friday after the group's most recent update indicated its trading performance had been "well below consensus expectations".
Canaccord Genuity noted that due to worse than expected audience trends, Future's higher margin revenue streams had performed worse than expected, and that the company now expects revenues to decline in H2, with lower-than-expected margins leading to an underlying earnings performance well below consensus estimates for FY26.
As a result, Canaccord Genuity cut its FY26 underlying earnings estimates by roughly 10% and stated it remains cautious going forward as it sees the "headwinds facing Future as structura"l.
"Future currently has a very low valuation on near-terms multiples, trading on a FY26E EV/EBITDA of 3.8x and PE of 3.3x. However, we do not see these multiples as a valuation support," said the Canadian bank, which has a 'hold' rating on the stock.
"The structural threat of AI, declining traffic, and limited visibility all raise questions like, whether there will be further potential downgrades and whether business would see sustainable future top line growth or not. Without growth recovery, we believe Future will remain at a structurally challenging valuation."
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