Liberum adds Provident Financial and Pets at Home to 'Conviction Sell' list

Provident Financial? 'Forget it', Liberum said, explaining that it saw "no compelling reason" to own the shares - the severe devaluation in their price notwithstanding.

Pets at Home? "It's a value trap with significant pressure across the profit and loss," the broker said.

On a cheerier note, Rio Tinto, Burberry and M&S were taken off 'Conviction sell'.

Regarding the latter two, Liberum said: "we think recent strategic reviews have improved the risk-reward profiles."

On the other side of the ledger, as of Wednesday shares of SSP (target price: 600p) and Zoopla (target price: 450p) were listed as 'Conviction Buys'.

London-based SSP was described as a "structural winner" which was uniquely placed to capitalise on global investment in travel infrastructure and trends towards convenient food.

Meanwhile, Zoopla enjoyed exposure to a £3bn market opportunity that Liberum said had the potential to drive sustainable growth over the next five years.

Several other UK-listed outfits were among the broker's 'conviction buys', including ITV, TP Icap, Balfour Beatty, Howden Joinery and GlaxoSmithKline.