DAVY VIEW

Howdens trading update confirms that the group remains on track to meet its full year expectations. Little change to consensus expectations is likely. In the current environment this is no mean achievement, especially given that circa 70% of full year trading profits are generated in H2. It provides further proof of why the resilience and robustness of the group’s operating model and strategy should never be underestimated. The stock has done well recently – up 12% in the past three months – and this has extended the year-to-date gain to over 30%. This has left the stock’s rating at its highest level in a number of years, which informs our ‘Neutral’ rating.