FTSE 250 movers: Spire surges as it rejects Mediclinic offer; IWG hit by downgrade
London’s FTSE 250 was down 0.2% to 20,109.57 in afternoon trade on Monday.
Spire Healthcare surged after rejecting a cash-and-shares offer from South Africa's Mediclinic International. Mediclinic, which already owns a 29.9% stake in its FTSE 250 peer, offered 150p cash and 0.232 new shares for each Spire share, which equated to an offer valued at 298.6p per share.
Waste-to-product business Renewi racked up strong gains after saying results for the year are expected to be “significantly above” its previous expectations following a particularly strong performance in September. In a trading update for the year to 31 March 2018, the company said the commercial division performed particularly well, with increased waste volumes driven by improving economic growth and construction market recovery.
On the downside, IWG was under the cosh as Credit Suisse downgraded its stance on the stock to ‘neutral’ from ‘outperform’ and slashed the price target to 250p from 435p, removing it from its small and mid-cap Focus List following the profit warning last week. Peer Workspace was also in the red.
CS noted that the flexible workspace provider cut 2017 EBIT guidance to between £160m and £170m versus consensus expectations of £215m before the announcement, citing a lack of inflection in mature like-for-like revenue growth and consequent pressure on mature gross margins, plus higher investment costs and some disruption from natural disasters.
Inchcape declined after peer Pendragon warned that full-year profit will be hit by weaker new car demand and pricing on used cars.
FTSE 250 - Risers
Spire Healthcare Group (SPI) 299.40p 14.58%
Renewi (RWI) 104.10p 5.63%
Softcat (SCT) 518.00p 5.61%
Sophos Group (SOPH) 605.00p 4.58%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 200.70p 2.61%
Homeserve (HSV) 850.00p 2.47%
Electra Private Equity (ELTA) 1,766.00p 2.38%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 187.30p 2.07%
Aggreko (AGK) 911.00p 1.84%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 885.50p 1.84%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
IWG (IWG) 211.70p -3.24%
IP Group (IPO) 138.00p -2.82%
Workspace Group (WKP) 886.50p -2.69%
McCarthy & Stone (MCS) 157.10p -2.60%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 1,169.00p -2.42%
Vectura Group (VEC) 101.00p -2.32%
Pagegroup (PAGE) 452.20p -2.31%
Inchcape (INCH) 802.50p -2.19%
Greene King (GNK) 531.50p -2.12%
Big Yellow Group (BYG) 781.50p -2.07%