Berenberg lifts price target on Hill & Smith ahead of update

The bank, which maintained its ‘buy’ rating on the shares, said it believes the business has clearly made material progress over the past 12-18 months in terms of portfolio improvements, underlying growth and pricing given strong cost inflation, "with more to come".

In the longer term, Berenberg thinks there is a "really interesting" opportunity to build a larger business.

"The market structure within galvanising in particular is such that it makes sense to buy assets with good management teams, good baseloads of customers, a good control of environmental and regulatory risks, as well as good regional economic structures," it said.

"For instance, with circa £50m-70m spend per annum over two to three deals, over a three- to five-year period that adds up into more meaningful scale."