Broker tips: Spire Healthcare, James Fisher, AutoTrader

8th Sep 2026 13:50

(Sharecast News) - Analysts at RBC Capital Markets cut their rating on Spire Healthcare to 'sector perform' from 'outperform' on Tuesday and lowered their price target on the stock from 300p to 250p, saying the recommended take‑private offer from a Toscafund‑led consortium effectively caps the upside for shareholders.

RBC Capital stated the 250p cash bid, announced last week, followed an extended strategic review and represented a 66% premium to Spire's pre‑announcement share price. It noted that the offer equates to around 8.6x FY25 adjusted underlying earnings and was likely to be accepted given the commercial challenges facing the group, including volatile NHS demand and persistent inflationary pressures that have led to repeated financial disappointments.

The Canadian bank highlighted that the Rule 2.7 announcement values Spire's equity at roughly £1bn and implies an enterprise value of about £2.3bn. Shareholders can alternatively opt for unlisted rollover securities, capped at 28m shares. The scheme requires approval from 75% of voting shareholders, with around 42.7% already committed through irrevocable undertakings from major investors and the board.

RBC Capital said the review involved discussions with more than 60 potential buyers, but Toscafund's consortium was the only party to submit a proposal the board deemed attractive.

It added that the board's rationale centred on the gap between Spire's public valuation and underlying asset value, execution risks in the standalone plan, and the greater flexibility offered by private ownership.

Berenberg trimmed its price target on James Fisher from 850p to 835p on Tuesday, but kept its 'buy' rating on the stock after the engineering group posted a stronger‑than‑expected first half performance and reiterated its full‑year guidance.

The German bank said H1 adjusted underlying earnings had come in 9% ahead of its forecast, driven by firm momentum in its defence and maritime transport divisions, which more than offset ongoing weakness in energy end‑markets. Defence revenues jumped 43% year‑on‑year, pushing the unit's EBITA margin up to 9.9%, while tankship utilisation in maritime transport reached 92%. Group revenues rose 2% to £196m, beating Berenberg's estimate, while adjusted EBITA of £14.2m was also ahead of expectations.

However, higher lease costs for four new tankships and a softer outlook for the energy division prompted the broker to trim outer‑year forecasts, with Berenberg cutting its FY27 adjusted EBITA estimate by 1.1% and reducing adjusted earnings per share across all years by 10% to 14% due to increased finance charges.

Berenberg said James Fisher's defence unit's growing order book, which now sits at around £390m, provided strong visibility into H2 and FY27, while maritime transport continued to show margin progression. Energy activity remained challenged, as expected, with reduced well‑test work in the UK North Sea and mixed renewables demand.

Looking ahead, Berenberg said it still sees re-rating potential as James Fisher increases exposure to higher‑growth, higher-margin markets, but the modest forecast reductions lowered its enterprise value-to-EBITDA‑based 12‑month target price to 835p, implying 83% upside.

Jefferies upgraded Autotrader from 'hold' to 'buy' on Tuesday and lifted its price target on the stock to 640p from 545p, saying it expects the company to lead the re-rating in the online classifieds sector.

The bank argued in January that Agentic AI fears were overdone. In a research note on Tuesday, it said: "We now argue that Agentic AI will make the online classifieds sector higher quality; a longer runway of growth, with a stronger network effect, and on a diminishing cost to serve.

"This Agentic Future will be bound only by our imaginations, and should be the sole domain of the platforms."

Jefferies said that similar to the way a website in the 1990s was a technology that powered a step change in utility for discovery - thereby disrupting newspapers - it thinks Agentic AI will be a technology that can power the next step change in utility.

"If so, the sector will have a longer runway of monetisation, defended by an even stronger network effect, and a lower cost to serve," it said.

Jefferies said it sees Autotrader as "standing alongside" Scout24 as a leader in the Agentic Future, noting that until the Deal Builder fiasco in late 2025, it had always argued that Autotrader's execution of its progressive vision was good.

"Accepting the failures around Deal Builder communication and commercial roll-out were the humbling aspect of our Jan-26 downgrade to 'hold'. But as we stand here, we see reasons to be more optimistic again."