Forterra plc is a leading producer of manufactured masonry products. The Group's core clay bricks and concrete blocks are primarily sold into the new build housing and residential RMI markets. The Group also produces a complementary range of bespoke building products, the most significant being engineered precast concrete flooring solutions. It's products have a broad customer base, comprising builders' merchants, residential homebuilders, specialist brick merchants, contractors and subcontractors and the Group's end market exposure can be divided between the residential new build, residential RMI and commercial construction markets.

And today.

Nice steady climb through July and August.

Fantastic recovery.

From fund manager Neil Woodford:
"Building is big business, too, according to Woodford. It explains the purchase of a stake in UK brick manufacturer Forterra (FORT), one of the last remaining players in a consolidating industry.

It has "a solid market position and a low cost base", and the weak pound now means importing bricks from Europe is no longer as economic, implying long-term prospects for Forterra "look very attractive".

"We believe the company is well-positioned to benefit from steady growth in the UK construction industry in the years ahead and took the opportunity to buy a meaningful stake in the business at what we consider to be a very appealing valuation," say Woodford's team.

Forterra: Deutsche Bank reiterates buy and sets a target price of 330p.

Sharecast -Analysts at Numis Securities took a look at the current position of the brick industry in the UK on Tuesday, concluding that while sales volumes across the nation were expected to remain "broadly flat", supply and demand dynamics remained attractive, and forecast higher prices too.
"Looking to 2018, despite an expected increase in UK production, we believe that sales volumes by UK manufacturers will be flat (as 2017 was augmented by sales from inventory, which we do not think can repeat). We, therefore, expect demand growth to be met by an increase in imports, and this dynamic has historically led to higher brick prices," the report read.
Indeed, Numis added it would "not be surprised" to see average 2018 brick price inflation in the mid-single digits, indicating share price upside for the likes of Ibstock and Forterra.
Christen Hjorth, along with the co-authors of the industry review, said she believed that it was likely that growth for UK brick producers would be a mirror image of 2017, but noted that there were important mix dynamics to account for.
In the same report, Numis indicated that Ibstock would likely outperform the industry with sales growth of 1%, projecting 5% growth at Forterra, driven by planned increases in available capacity. In parallel, the firms were expected to achieve average price increases of 4% and 4.9% over the year, respectively.
"Driven by our peer group analysis, we believe that an average 2019 P/E ratio of 12.5x for the brick sub-sector is attainable on a one-year view. Based on this and an assumed 5% P/E ratio discount for Forterra (to reflect Ibstock's larger scale/liquidity), we set our target price at 288p/share for Ibstock (from 270p) and 335p/share for Forterra (unchanged). This suggests 15% and 19% upside, respectively, and we, therefore, maintain our Add recommendations for both companies."

Proactive investor - Forterra downgraded to 'neutral' by Citigroup after good run over the last year
Share
11:23 23 May 2018
Trading this year has been affected by the severe weather. This led to lost production and delays in construction activity, which affected demand for its products, particularly during March.

A planning application for redeveloping the site at Desford in Leicestershire is being finalised
Following yesterday's trading update from Forterra PLC (LON:FORT), Citigroup says the risk-reward balance for the bricks maker now looks less compelling.
The US bank has downgraded the stock to 'neutral' despite increasing the price target to 350p; the shares fell 5.5p to 327.5p following the downgrade.
READ Remnant of Hanson empire to float as Forterra cashes in on brick boom​
Citi said the trading update looked reassuring despite the dodgy weather conditions Britain has had this year.
The group's plans to increase brick production capacity by around 16% by 2022-23 is likely to support medium term volume growth while a reduction in operating costs from a new, larger facility should drive further margin improvement.
“However, capacity constraints limit near term growth prospects and we downgrade the stock to Neutral as we believe earnings momentum over the next three years is likely to be less exciting,” Citi said.

Half year report

08:10 23/11/2018
Broker Forecast - Peel Hunt issues a broker note on Forterra Plc
Peel Hunt today reaffirms its buy investment rating on Forterra Plc (LON:FORT) and cut its price target to 295p (from 350p). Story provided by StockMarketWire.com Broker Forecasts data provided by www.sharesmagazine.co.uk