SocGen cuts M&S but says worth holding onto for dividend yield

Societe Generale downgraded Marks & Spencer to ‘hold’ from ‘buy’ and cut the price target to 424p from 545p following the retailer’s full-year results earlier in the week.

The French bank said M&S was certainly worth holding for the total dividend yield. It said the company remains strongly cash generative, backed by healthy margins and growth in the food business, with a commitment to making ongoing surplus cash returns to shareholders.

M&S announced a 4.6p special dividend for the first half and SocGen assumes a further 4.6p special dividend in the second half, along with special dividends in the outer years, in view of the company’s target net debt/EBITDA range of 1.5x-2.0x.

“The 7% total estimated dividend yield is attractive. However, we would need more than 15% total shareholder return to retain the ‘buy’ recommendation,” the bank said.

SocGen said that while M&S was lucky to have a top-end market position focusing on specialty, convenience, health and quality, Clothing and Home present an ever-increasing challenge from all angles.

“We do not expect sustainable like-for-like sales recovery at any point. It is difficult to disagree with the measures that are being taken in response to detailed customer feedback, but there is very low visibility on recovery at this stage in our view. Hence we downgrade,” it said.

At 1025 BST, M&S shares were down 0.2% to 389.90p.