RBC upgrades Regus after underperformance

Flexible workspace solutions provider Regus got a boost on Wednesday as RBC Capital Markets upped the stock to ‘outperform’ from ‘sector perform’ and lifted the price target to 400p from 300p.

The Canadian bank said the stock’s recent underperformance was a good buying opportunity.

It argued that Regus has an unrivalled market position, significant expansion potential and strong structural growth drivers.

“We believe the existing estate is justified by the current share price and hence investors are getting growth potential for free,” it said.

RBC said Regus has demonstrated very strong growth over recent years, with CAGR sales growth of 13.4% since 2010.

“We see continued strong growth and as the mature estate becomes a bigger proportion of the group, and with selling, general & administrative leverage potential, we expect Regus to continue to demonstrate some of the highest EPS growth in the sector.”

The bank said that while there are some clear cyclical drivers, the key reason to own Regus over the long-run are the structural growth trends that are increasing the demand for flexible office space.

It pointed to a recent report by Lancaster University’s Work Foundation commissioned by Citrix, which showed that in 2017, over half of organisations in the UK are likely to have adopted flexible working. The report also suggested that over 70% of organisations will have followed suit by 2020.

At 1205 BST, Regus shares were up 5.5% to 320p.