Financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald has downgraded its investment outlook on food group Greencore.
The downgrade to “underperform” from “outperform” comes after a sell-off in Greencore’s shares last week following rumours surrounding a loss of business at one of the company’s US plants.
The Dublin-headquartered company issued a statement following the share price movement saying it had decided to refocus its Jacksonville, Florida, site, thereby withdrawing it from frozen product production.
Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Stephen Hall said: "This assembly facility is now massively underutilised and hurting margins."
In a note to investors Mr Hall wrote that the investment firm was moving Greencore out of its core portfolio on the basis that the stock’s price action has been “hugely disappointing of late and not reflective of the underlying fundamentals.
“Investor sentiment appears to have turned negative and sterling pound weakness and mixed UK economic data might further impact sentiment towards the stock,” he added.
