Intu Properties knocked lower by JPMorgan downgrade

13th May 2019 10:57

(Sharecast News) - Shopping centre owner Intu Properties slumped on Monday as JPMorgan Cazenove downgraded its rating on the stock to 'underweight' from 'neutral' and cut the price target to 94p from 116p saying there was more downside from here.JPM said that despite a tough 2018, the outlook for Intu hasn't stabilised.It said values should continue to fall and the possibility of selling UK assets at book value is diminished given a weak rental outlook. In addition, JPM said Intu Trafford financial break costs could reduce net asset value by around 20p, contributing to a 30% drop in NAV this year."Despite the recent material cut to rental growth guidance (up to -6% in 19) the shares are flat over the last three weeks and up 7% from a 52 week low in May, but there remains no dividend, the earnings outlook is hard to quantify and relative to other retail peers (that pay dividends) the future earnings per share multiple does not look compelling," said JPM."There are few anchors for the share price in our view. New CEO Matthew Roberts and team are doing all they can, but we don't see the outlook turning around soon."At 1040 BST, the shares were down 5% at 92.46p.