The Business of Fashion

PPR: Analyst downgrade drives down stock price

PPR, the Paris-based conglomerate, saw its stock price drop after Credit Suisse analyst Tony Shiret downgraded the stock from "outperform" to "neutral" in his analyst report released yesterday. Shiret reduced his target price for PPR stock by 27% from 144 euros to 105 euros and the stock closed at 110.63 euros in Paris, down 4% for the day and the lowest price since January. According to Shiret

The group is becoming less, rather than more, strategically focused. We continue to feel uneasy about the widening scope of the business.

Shiret noted that as he tried to do forecasts for PPR going forward, he was struck by how many parts there are to the business. In particular, the report singles out Redkats, Conforama and United Retail as underperforming businesses that are dragging down earnings. Adding to the confusion are persisting reports about a forthcoming PPR acquisition of Clarins, as reported on The Business of Fashion last week. Some analysts say another acquisition is the last thing PPR needs.

Industry chatter: PPR Going after Clarins?

If rumours floating around Paris yesterday are on the ball, then PPR's Francois-Henri Pinault has now got his acquisitive eyes fixed on Clarins.

The French cosmetics company saw its stock jump 7.7% on the speculation that PPR would make a bid for company in the coming days, pushing its market capitalisation to more than 2.6b euros. This rumour follows previous speculation that L'Oreal would make a bid for Clarins, after the death of its founder Jacques Courtin-Clarins in March of this year.

Acquisition rumours like this are a dime a dozen. But, this one might actually have some legs. An industry insider sitting next to me at last evening's Walpole Awards said that attempts to reach PPR and Clarins to comment had been completely futile. Neither party had confirmed or denied the rumours - it was just radio silence and phones were just not being answered. It was precisely because of this that he was thinking twice about whether these rumours deserved more serious attention.