ABN Amro maintained its "hold" recommendation on grocer Metcash, forecasting a normalised first-half fiscal 2009 net profit of $98 million, reflecting anticipated benefits from expansion in its fresh food platform. The stock is trading at a 61 per cent premium to the S&P/ASX 200 Index one-year forward price-earnings. But ABN Amro warned that fresh food growth was unlikely to warrant the premium.
