FTSE 250 movers: SSP gains on results; Countrywide slumps
London’s FTSE 250 was down 0.2% to 17,490.42 in afternoon trade as investors kept an eye on oil prices ahead of Wednesday’s OPEC meeting.
Starbucks and Burger King travel food operator SSP Group was the standout gainer after it reported a rise in full-year revenue as it focuses on delivering shareholder value.
For the year ended 30 September, the operator of food and beverage brands in over 152 airports and 270 train stations, said that revenue rose 5% to £1.9bn at a constant currency basis and 8.6% at actual exchange rates, compared to last year.
Transport operator Go-Ahead advanced after saying it has changed its accounting policy for rail pension schemes in line with its commitment to transparent reporting and to be consistent with emerging industry practice, a move that has pushed up its statutory profit.
TalkTalk rallied on news that telecoms regulator Ofcom is formally requiring that BT Group separate its Openreach network infrastructure division into a separate entity.
Accendo Markets’ Mike van Dulken said the news was “especially significant for smaller peers and competitors like TalkTalk (hence its share price outperformance versus Sky) in that it would likely result in significantly more transparency about Openreach, especially how profitable the infrastructure division that they piggy-back actually is”.
“This would in turn allow them to see whether they have been paying over the odds for access to the UK’s copper and fibre optic network and surely shake things up with the new entity having a duty to treat all customers equally.”
On the downside, Countrywide was the standout loser as the stock – which tumbled last week after a profit warning – could be demoted from the FTSE 250 as part of the quarterly FTSE Russell index reshuffle on Wednesday.
Aberdeen Asset Management was under pressure as Bank of America Merrill Lynch downgraded the stock to ‘neutral’ from ‘buy’ and cut the price target to 295p from 355p.
The bank said that while Aberdeen’s results this week were better than expected, the flow of investor money into the company’s emerging markets sweet spot is likely to stall.
Risers
SSP Group (SSPG) 373.00p 9.13%
BH Macro Ltd. GBP Shares (BHMG) 2,087.00p 6.26%
Go-Ahead Group (GOG) 2,095.00p 4.02%
TalkTalk Telecom Group (TALK) 162.80p 3.63%
Laird (LRD) 149.20p 3.04%
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 2,501.00p 3.01%
Entertainment One Limited (ETO) 219.90p 2.28%
Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 84.15p 2.19%
Aldermore Group (ALD) 209.80p 2.09%
Tullett Prebon (TLPR) 438.90p 2.07%
Fallers
Countrywide (CWD) 166.60p -4.36%
Henderson Group (HGG) 233.80p -3.55%
Ashmore Group (ASHM) 275.10p -3.37%
G4S (GFS) 238.90p -2.41%
Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 268.50p -2.29%
AO World (AO.) 167.30p -2.16%
NMC Health (NMC) 1,343.00p -2.11%
Weir Group (WEIR) 1,752.00p -1.96%
Virgin Money Holdings (UK) (VM.) 311.00p -1.95%
Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 367.50p -1.79%