STOCKS NEWS EUROPE-Future down; FY pretax profit drops

Shares in British publisher Future (FUTR.L) shed 1.2 percent as it posts a 41 percent drop in adjusted pretax profit for the year and trading remains challenging, prompting Numis to cut its forecasts and target price.

"We are taking a cautious view on 2010, and are lowering our pretax profit/earnings per share estimates to 7.5 million pounds and 1.8 pence from 9 million pounds 2.0 pence," the broker says.

However, Numis retains its "buy" rating saying Future is structurally sound and robustly financed and forecasts a recovery for 2011 largely driven by our forecast for the elimination of US losses.

Meanwhile, Investec says "results this morning were slightly below our expectations ... while it is difficult to see anything in this statement to drive excitement, the stock continues to look undervalued".

For more double click on [ID:nGEE5AO2L4]

Reuters Messaging rm://david.brett.reuters.com@reuters.net