Berenberg reiterates 'Buy' on RPC, says M&A potential underpriced

Analysts at Berenberg said shares in RPC Group were arguably cheap, giving short shrift to criticism of the company's adjustments to its operating profits, or that it was overpaying for assets, amongst other issues.

RPC Group was a 'roll-up' story, it had always been so and it continued to be so, the broker said, with the packaging business buying rivals and extracting synergies from them.

Adjustments to its earnings before interest and taxes were not "particularly large or unusual" relative to the size of the acquisitions carried out.

Critics of the Northamptonshire-based company were also failing to take duly into account the positives from its aqcuisitions, including the generation of synergies, Berenberg said.

With the price for past acquisitions running at about seven times EBITDA, falling to five times' once all costs and synergies were considered, the company was not destroying value "en masse".

Furthermore, at present its shares were trading on EBITDA and EBIT multiples aking to those of DS Smith, implying that the premium for further M&A had been taken out as investors' confidence wavered.

"If RPC makes more acquisitions and creates more synergies, then arguably this is cheap. We do think, however, that management could increase the focus on quality of acquisition rather than quantity," Berenberg said.

The broker kept the shares at 'Buy' with a 1,120p target price.