JP Morgan stays cautious on Kingfisher heading into Brexit deadline

Analysts at JP Morgan retained a "cautious" view on shares of white goods retailer Kingfisher, reiterating their 'underweight' recommendation and lowering their target price from 200.0p to 190.0p.

Ahead of the company's interims on 18 September, the investment bank said that like-for-like sales had likely weakened across all three key markets during the second quarter.

Hence, they estimated that profits before tax would be down by 9.0%.

They also pointed out the hurdles that Kingfisher was facing in the form of its ongoing transformation and soft leading indicators for the UK housing market going into the Brexit deadline on 31 October, and then there were questions marks around its strategy.

"Combined with ongoing transformation disruption to performance and question marks over the group’s medium-term strategy, along with a recent softening of lead indicators in the UK housing market (unsurprising as we move closer to the October Brexit deadline)," they said.

"We still struggle to become more constructive on the shares."