(News Bulletin 247) – The research office TP ICAP Midcap has gone from holding to selling the share and considers that the company’s operating profit target is “at risk”.

New warning shot for Maisons du Monde shares, which fell 7.6% this Thursday at the end of the session, to 9.65 euros. The title of the furniture group is penalized by a lowering of recommendation from TP ICAP Midcap which went from “hold” to “sell” on the action, with a price target reduced to 9.4 euros against 11 .8 euros before.

The design office took this decision after the publication of figures on Wednesday from the Banque de France, which show a decline in furniture sales of 8.6% in volume compared to the same month of 2022 and 1, 9% in value.

>> Access our exclusive graphic analyses, and enter into the confidence of the Trading Portfolio

Still penalized by the decline in purchasing power

The financial intermediary has thus revised its revenue projection for 2023, anticipating a turnover of 1.16 billion euros for 2023, against 1.19 billion previously, which implies a decline in activity of 5, 4% in the second quarter.

In addition, TP ICAP Midcap considers that the company’s operating profit target for the current financial year – a range between 65 and 75 million euros – seems “ambitious” because it implies a rebound in the activity in the second part of 2023 “which looks less and less likely”. “Thus, we do not exclude new disappointments on the file”, warns the design office.

Before TP ICAP Midcap, Bryan Garnier & Co had already sold on the file in April. The financial intermediary warned that the company should be further penalized by the decline in household purchasing power, which is being eaten away by inflation.

“With food inflation continuing to accelerate across Europe (over 15%) and a long process of disinflation in the second half of the year, consumer arbitrage is likely to continue and affect retailers of discretionary goods “, he explained then.

In the first quarter, Maison du Monde sales fell 14% on a like-for-like basis. The managing director, François-Melchior de Polignac evoked “a high basis of comparison and a macroeconomic context which remains complex and continues to weigh on consumer confidence and purchasing power”. This was reflected in particular by a drop in traffic both in stores and in online sales.