Berenberg raises target price on MJ Gleeson

Berenberg said MJ Gleeson's shares "reacted well" to the trading statement, reversing most of their underperformance relative to the sector over the past several months.

The German bank highlighted that MJ Gleeson was opening new sites "more quickly" than it expected and added that price increases looked to have been implemented without any impact on demand.

"Combined, this puts the group in [a] very strong position to attain (and perhaps exceed) 2,000 completions in FY 2022," said the analysts.

However, Berenberg set its forecast at 1,700 to give "some margin for error", but thinks there is scope for this to be revised upwards if market and macroeconomic conditions "remain favourable".

Berenberg's full-year 2021 revenue estimate for MJ Gleeson also increased to £289.0m and pre-tax profit expectations were raised to £37.0m.