BEST OF THE BROKERS
THE RESTAURANT GROUP
Brewin Research maintains a “conviction buy” stance for the Restaurant Group but lowers its 12-month price target to 335p from 352p to reflect the recent sell-off in the market. The broker says the Restaurant Group’s interim results published on Friday is further evidence of the firm’s ability to demonstrate trading resilience, unit expansion and strong cash generation despite ongoing macro-economic headwinds.
EMIS
Evolution Securities retains its 600p price target and sees the combination of defensive business model, high quality earnings, and organic growth potential at the primary care software provider to be worthy of a premium rating to the sector. EMIS’s interim results were ahead of expectations in terms of clean operating profits, and the broker reckons the reasons for this was improved margins from a revenue mix shift towards software & hosting.
SALAMANDER ENERGY
Numis maintains a “hold” recommendation and 252p price target after it sold its five per cent stakes in two mature Indonesian oil & gas assets on Friday. Numis calls the sale is a “sensible deal” and reckons Salamander has captured value by exiting two mature, low value assets and will recycle this capital into repaying debt ahead of its focused, drilling campaign. planned for 2012. The deal is is 3 per cent accretive to Salamander’s net asset value.