STOCKS NEWS EUROPE-Logica gains; Seymour Pierce upgrades

Shares in Anglo-Dutch computer services company Logica (LOG.L) gain 2.8 percent as Seymour Pierce upgrades its rating on the stock to "outperform" from "sell".

Seymour Pierce, in a note, points out that Logica shares have underperformed the market by 22 percent over the past 12 months as investors attached a high degree of risk to the turnaround story in the face of progressively worsening end market conditions.

But the broker says that trend appears to have modified, with the recent news flow from Financial Services (about 17 percent of Logica's sales), for example, appearing to indicate that the market is at least steadying, if not improving, for the first time in many months.

Seymour Pierce notes the stock also trades at a significant discount (56 percent) to the broader IT Services peer group and "(it) argue(s) there is room for a re-rating over the medium term".

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