Citi sees more than 20% upside for Ascential, stays at 'buy'

Analysts at Citi told clients they saw more than 20% upside in shares of Ascential, when not more.

That was true even when factoring in "conservative" valuations for the company's stake in Hudson MX and for its core Events business, they said in a research note sent to clients.

Indeed, their 225p target price together with the expected special dividend yielded a 'fair value' for the shares of 380p in "today's money".

Furthermore, a blue sky scenario in which the events business was valued at 12 times EV/EBITDA and Hudson MX sold for over £100m would result in a fair value of 450p per share.

Citi analysts said they remained buyers of the shares.