BUZZ-Babcock: hung UK parliament may slow contract awards - Stifel
** British engineering firm Babcock -3.4% to feature as top FTSE loser after Stifel says hung UK parliament raises likelihood of slowdown in new order awards
** Brokerage points to prospect of prolonged slowed decision-making across the government and civil service, impacting the flow of new orders
** Stifel cuts to "hold" from "buy", TP to 950p from 1280p (10 "buy" or higher ratings on stock, 4 "hold" & 1 "sell" or lower with median analysts' TP 1,100p acc to Reuters data)
** BAB (Other OTC: BABB - news) also 4th top Stoxx loser
** Coalition govt to "inevitably" delay initiatives and bidding processes at all levels of government, Stifel says, raising concerns about rest of outsourcing and engineering sector
** Brexit slowdown, tightening of purse strings by private clients amid uncertain UK market & tightening of public service awards by govt also hit broader sector over past yr
** Capita (Taiwan OTC: T1614Y.TWO - news) (-2%) & Mitie (+0.2%) issued multiple warnings, while Serco (-1.1%) & G4S (-0.2%) also heavily exposed to govt work
** Other public work exposed engineering & support services include: Carillion (Frankfurt: 924047 - news) , Interserve (Frankfurt: 860509 - news) , Kier & Balfour Beatty (Other OTC: BAFBF - news) ; though immediate impact on stocks unclear