Deutsche Bank downgraded Britvic to ‘hold’ from ‘buy’ on Thursday as it said there is now insufficient upside to the shares to maintain a ‘buy’ stance.
The bank noted that Britvic shares are within 1% of its unchanged price target of 950p and have had a solid performance year to date.
Britvic’s shares are up 15.6% YTD, outperforming the Stoxx 600 food and beverage index by 4.6%. The shares have also outperformed UK-listed soft drinks players Fever-Tree and CCH, but have underperformed Coca-Cola Europacific Partners.
Deutsche said the third-quarter trading update in July suggested the company continued to benefit from a reopening within GB, France and Brazil.
“At the same time, we note that Britvic – like most staples companies – is likely experiencing higher inputs, which it will need to offset with higher pricing,” it added.
At 1345 BST, the shares were down 2.8% at 903p.
