Broker snap: Panmure Gordon raises target for Marston's

30th Jun 2011 12:51

Panmure Gordon kept its buy rating and upped its target price for brewing and pubs group Marston's, saying that management is successfully executing a "well-thought-out strategy.""Management is quietly making significant strides to reposition the group to achieve a more balanced earnings profile, drive earnings growth, improve returns and reduce leverage whilst maintaining and subsequently growing its best-in-class dividend," said analysts Simon French and Lindsey Kerrigan.The broker expects Marston's to deliver a 9.2% compound annual growth rate in earnings per share over the next three years."We believe our forecasts are well underpinned by robust underlying trading and the performance of the new-build managed pubs and pubs moving onto the Retail Agreement."The target price is raised from 120p to 130p.BC