Berenberg moves Imerys to 'hold' on lack of catalysts

** Berenberg cuts Imerys NK to "hold" from "buy" and lowers its PT by 29% to EUR 32, citing lack of short-term catalysts and no recovery in its high-purity quartz business

** Broker notes the speciality minerals company's underlying business has stabilised and expects positive trends from Q3 to continue in Q4

** However, Berenberg struggles to "see the share outperforming" and points as well to tough comparables due to strong historic contribution from The Quartz Corporation joint venture slowing as oversupply in the solar industry persists

** It adds it expects Imerys to "wait-and-see" whether to build its lithium pilot plant in 2025, given the 30% y/y drop in lithium prices

** In terms of earnings, the broker slightly tweaks its adjusted EBITDA estimate for 2025 to EUR 647 mln from EUR 652 mln, and trading on 5.0 times EV/adjusted EBITDA it does not think the shares are expensive

** Out of seven analysts that cover Imerys, four rate the stock "strong buy" or "buy,"​ two rate it "hold" and one rates the stock "sell"