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(Sharecast News) - Berenberg hiked its target price for tonic maker Fever-Tree from 700.0p to 860.0p on the back of the tonic maker's partnership with Molson Coors, which it said appears "highly attractive".
Fever-Tree announced last week that it had entered into a strategic partnership with Molson Coors to drive the next stage of growth in the US. The deal, which will see the American brewing giant take an 8.5% stake in the business, includes the exclusive sales, distribution and production of the Fever-Tree brand in the US - a market where it has been operating since 2008.
Berenberg labelled the tie-up between the two companies "a strong match", given Molson Coors' highly aligned distribution network.
"The partnership will allow Fever-Tree's products to tap into a vast distribution network within the US, supported by increased marketing resources, which is to yield growth acceleration and margin expansion for Fever-Tree," the broker said. "In addition, we are positive about the amount of cash that the partnership will free up for Fever-Tree, which we think will translate to shareholder returns or alternatively, be invested in the company's growth."
Nevertheless, Berenberg still decided to keep a 'hold' rating on the stock, citing "operational uncertainty and continued subdued demand in Fever-Tree's other key markets".
Deutsche Bank upgraded Greencore on Thursday to 'buy' from 'hold' and lifted its price target on the stock to 225.0p from 195.0p.
"Our key takeaway from Greencore's Capital Market Event yesterday, was the primacy of returns for the management team with a medium term target more than 15% return on invested capital, up from the 11.5% generated in FY 24," the bank said.
It said this is the output of a business delivering 3-5% revenue growth and achieving an adjusted operating profit margin of more than 7%.
"We think that the combination of growth opportunities from the core business and addressing the three 'C's of new Categories, Customers and Countries, although we have some reservations about the latter should support the revenue ambitions," DB said.
The German bank also noted that this could be further supplemented by "strategic M&A".
Analysts at Canaccord Genuity lowered their target price on Colombia-focussed oil firm Arrow Exploration from 50.0p to 44.0p on Thursday but acknowledged that near-term drilling was likely to reboot production growth.
Canaccord Genuity said Arrow's recent operations update highlighted, in its view, the limitations of normal vertical/near-vertical wells to deliver "significant growth" at the company's Tapir licence in Colombia.
The Canadian bank also stated that Arrow's step-up in production in H224 was driven by horizontal drilling at its CN field, and that it thinks its operational template will likely have the most impact across the licence from now.
"The stock has reacted sharply downwards following the recent update. We recognise the market's disappointment as production has declined over the past couple of months, but the company is only in the very early stages of its 2025 operational programme," said Canaccord.
"We believe the forward drilling plans should set the path upwards once again from early Q2, and with the momentum backed by a strong balance sheet ($23.0m cash and no debt at 1 February) we maintain our 'buy' rating."
