Top of the Street: Bunzl, St. James's Place, Sopra Steria

Sopra Steria SA

05/03/2025 11:31

A round-up of notable broker activity this morning from Europe's top-ranked* analysts:

** Peel Hunt raises British distribution and services company Bunzl BUNZL.L to "add" from "hold", saying share price weakness following FY results has created a 15% potential upside to its unchanged PT of 3,500 pence; adds Q1 update on April 24 will be keenly watched and could serve as a positive catalyst

** UBS cuts British wealth manager St James's Place SJP.L to "neutral" from "buy" as the stock's risk/reward is more balanced after a 25% YTD share price increase

INITIATIONS AND REINSTATEMENTS

** Bernstein initiates French IT consulting company Sopra Steria SOPR.PA with "outperform", saying its derisked Q1 offers a cheap entry into secular European IT services growth, while the risk/reward appears asymmetric to the potential upside

(*Analyst rankings from Thomson Reuters StarMine. The scale is from 1-star to 5-star with 5 being the best. Analysts are ranked on earnings accuracy as well as relative performance of recommendations over trailing 12-month & 24-month periods.)

 (Reporting by Joao Manuel Mauricio and Isabel Demetz)