Jeronimo Martins gains 4% on Citi's upgrade to 'buy'

Jeronimo Martins SGPS SA

01/07/2025 10:12

** Shares in Jeronimo Martins JMT.LS are up around 4% after Citi Research upgraded the Portuguese food retailer to "buy" from "neutral" as it expects a rebound in the Polish food market and continued results improvement in Poland and the company's two other main markets, Portugal and Colombia

** Going forward, the broker sees room for better like-for-like's (LFL) and more robust margins especially driven by its Polish unit Biedronka, after a period of LFL weakness

** Citi says it is starting to see green shoots in the Polish food market such as higher volumes, better LFL sales and stronger margins

** The broker believes the worst for Biedronka's margins is behind it and as Q2 data can show some Easter related distortions, the H2 could surprise the market to the upside

** Over the next few years Citi expects Jeronimo Martins to grow its bottom line at mid-double-digit rates with all three regions contributing positively

** Out of 23 analysts that cover Jeronimo Martins, 17 rate the stock "strong buy" or "buy"​, four rate it "hold" and two​ rate the stock "strong sell" or "sell" - LSEG data

** The stock is among top movers on Europe-wide STOXX 600 .STOXX index

(Reporting by Joao Manuel Mauricio)

((JoaoManuel.VicenteMauricio@thomsonreuters.com))