Broker tips: BT Group, Safestore
By Michele Maatouk
Date: Thursday 08 Jan 2026
(Sharecast News) - Citi reiterated its 'sell' rating and 140p price target on BT Group on Thursday as it said consumer downgrades should be in focus, not just Openreach line loss.
The main metric that investors will likely focus on at the third-quarter results on 5 February will again be Openreach broadband line losses, the bank said.
"As 51% of Openreach revenue is internal, this metric, and Openreach financials, can be supported by BT's downstream divisions, albeit at a cost to them if non-value adding volumes are being pursued," it said.
"While Openreach financials have positively surprised us in recent periods by continuing to grow, Consumer has seen persistent downgrades, accounting for £105m of the group's £131m 2026/27 EBITDA consensus downgrade over the last 12 months, with future EBITDA growth expectations also compressing."
Elsewhere, Jefferies upgraded Safestore to 'buy' from 'hold' and lifted the price target to 875p from 682p as it took a look at the Pan European real estate sector.
Jefferies said its outlook on the stock is more positive since the company took the initial earnings hit last year and this year by growing its pipeline. It pointed out that new stores are initially earnings dilutive.
"The 40% discount to NAV looks cheap and we think the improvement in like-for-like metrics (operations) offers downside protection," the bank said.
Jefferies noted that Safestore is starting to see a small positive turn with respect to its LFL metrics, and in the last trading update, LFL group revenue rose by 3.3%, led by the UK due to robust domestic demand and space partitioning benefits.
"We think the strategy in carving up the larger units which historically were used for business purposes into smaller ones for domestic use seems to be helping as smaller units have better margins, whilst the development pipeline remains on track at the same time," the bank said.
It said Safestore has had to overcome substantial cost headwinds in the last year or two with cost increases driven by inflation - national living wage, NIC, business rates, energy etc - which it is offsetting by recovering top line growth post-Covid highs.
"These headwinds seem to be improving as we look forward and therefore we are turning more positive on the earnings outlook for the company with respect to its core UK and Paris market and we therefore upgrade Safestore to buy."
In the same research note, Jefferies upgraded Shurgard to 'buy' from 'hold' and maintained its 'hold' rating on Big Yellow.
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