DAVY VIEW

The prospect of Ibstock recording a pick-up in earnings this year has been dashed. While volumes continue to recover, the combination of higher-than-expected costs and weaker selling prices is now likely to result in earnings similar to 2024. The best-case scenario is that this is just a delay in the group’s recovery, although it is hard to have the same level of conviction in this hypothesis, at least for now, after the setback. The update has prompted us to lower our price target to 167p and our recommendation to ‘Neutral’.