Citi downgrades Admiral to 'sell', shares slide

Insurer Admiral tanked on Tuesday after Citi downgraded its stance on the shares to ‘sell’, saying that a ‘deep dive’ into industry loss ratio trends had suggested that consensus estimates for the group are currently an outlier.

"We downgrade Admiral to sell and issue a negative catalyst watch as we expect an earnings expectation reset and material downside risk into 1H23E numbers," Citi said.

The bank said it’s 10% below both 1H23 and FY23 consensus earnings per share estimates.

At 0810 BST, the shares were down 5% at 2,208p.