Deutsche Bank lowers target price on Ibstock

Analysts at Deutsche Bank lowered their target price on brick maker Ibstock from 170.0p to 150.0p on Thursday following the publication of the group's third-quarter trading update.

Deutsche Bank said although its pre-tax profit forecasts for Ibstock remain "largely intact" this year, it sees the market backdrop as being likely to "remain challenging" for some time, with domestic brick deliveries down 30% year-to-date.

"This leads us to make material downward revisions to our 2024E and 2025E forecasts," said DB. "We leave our 2023E PBT forecast intact (circa £72.0m), but make major downward revisions to our 2024E and 2025 estimates. Reflecting few signs of recovery in the new build residential space, we make significantly lower volume assumptions, the key driver of our revised estimates."

Deutsche Bank, which has a 'hold' rating on the stock, added that for 2024, it now forecasts pre-tax profits of £51.0m, significantly lower than its previous estimate of roughly £81.0m, and £57.0m for 2025, down from £87.0m.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com