Berenberg reiterates 'buy' on Cohort

(Sharecast News) - Analysts at Berenberg said on Friday that Cohort's AGM update on 24 September was reassuring, highlighting continued order‑intake momentum and improving margins across the group's businesses. Trading in the first months of FY27 was in line with expectations, allowing the board to reiterate full‑year guidance, while the firm's order book reached a record £700m, providing around 90% cover for FY27 consensus revenue.

Berenberg said Cohort's M&A pipeline remained active, supported by recently expanded bank facilities, though it expected the board to stay disciplined on valuation multiples.

The German bank left its FY27 forecasts unchanged but lifted FY28 and FY29 adjusted earnings per share estimates by 3% to 4%, reiterating its 'buy' rating and 1,630p price target.

Recent contract wins included a €140m ELAC deal with Saab and work on Poland's Orca Submarine Programme, alongside an Italian award, which Berenberg said underscored ELAC's strong technology platform and pointed to further opportunities.

Berenberg noted that seller valuations in the wider market remain elevated-particularly in the drone segment - but not unreasonable elsewhere. It also said Cohort continued to expect an H2 profit weighting in FY27, consistent with prior guidance and FY26 seasonality, and that outer‑year revenue and margin visibility had improved.

Berenberg added that Cohort's shares trade on 17.6x FY27 earnings, falling to 15.5x in FY28, with an FY28 enterprise value-to-underlying earnings multiple of 10x, a 6% free‑cash‑flow yield and a 1.9% dividend yield.











Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com