Barclays ups B&M European Value Retail to 'overweight', shares rally

Barclays upgraded its stance on shares of B&M European Value Retail on Wednesday to ‘overweight’ from ‘equalweight’ as it pointed to an "attractive" valuation even if zero pandemic benefit is retained.

The bank noted that B&M shares have fallen by more than 40% since the start of March, hurt by concerns on CEO change, retention of pandemic gains, and potential headwinds from lower UK consumer spending.

"We think concerns are fully discounted at this share price and we expect better sales trends to be evidenced in the 1Q trading statement (29 June)," it said.

Barclays cut its price target on the stock to 475p from 600p.

At 0850 BST, the shares were up 4% at 375.86p.