Exane cuts Imerys to 'neutral' on limited upside after Q4 results

Imerys SA

26/02/2024 10:28

** Exane BNP Paribas cuts French minerals group Imerys to
"neutral" from "outperform", saying it sees a limited upside to
its target price of EUR 31 after a Q4 sales miss last week
    ** Imerys posted Q4 sales of EUR 894 mln ($969 mln) on
Wednesday, 6% below forecasts, which the broker attributes to
adverse end-market conditions, continued destocking in channels,
and a more acute competitive environment
    ** Exane notes that while unwinding of energy surcharges
contributed to negative pricing in Q4, the management pointed
towards stabilisation in 2024, it adds
    ** The broker adjusts its earnings estimates down by 2% for
2024 and 4% for 2025, "essentially to account for less volume
growth and lower contribution from pricing"
    ** Shares in Imerys are down 3.4% at EUR 30 per share as of
1022 GMT
    ** Among seven analysts covering the stock, six rate it
"strong buy"/"buy" and one "hold"

($1 = 0.9223 euros)

 (Reporting by Dimitri Rhodes)
 ((Dimitri.Rhodes@thomsonreuters.com))