Morgan Stanley downgrade William Hill stock

Morgan Stanley analysts have downgraded William Hill plc following a profit warning issued by the company last week (see previous report).

William Hill said two factors had negatively affected its forecast, namely; an acceleration in the number of time-outs and automatic self-exclusions over recent weeks which are impacting the level of actives across the Online business; and gross win margins for Online having been affected by European football results and the worst Cheltenham results in recent history.

Morgan Stanley downgraded the stock from equalweight to underweight with the target price cut to GBP2.90 from GBP4.25.