LONDON (Bloomberg) - UK general-retail stocks were raised to "positive" by analysts at Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., who said the shares offer value following declines.

Lehman analyst Fraser Ramzan boosted his recommendation on Home Retail Group plc., the Milton Keynes, England-based owner of the Argos and Homebase chains, to "overweight" from "equal weight," saying a strategy of protecting profitability would support the stock. Until now, the securities firm gave the industry a "neutral" rating.

The FTSE 350 General Retailers Index has dropped 14 percent this year as some of its 20 members have reported weaker or lower Christmas sales, fueling concern about the outlook for consumer spending. UK incomes are under pressure from higher mortgage, tax, utility and food bills. The benchmark FTSE 100 Index slid 5.5 percent on January 21, the most since the September 11 terrorist attacks.

"The worst of the relative earnings-per-share revisions for UK retailers may be drawing to a close as other sectors begin to see downgrades," Mr. Razman wrote in a research note yesterday.