FTSE 250 movers: Travel back in the sun, Plus500 hit by read-across
London's FTSE 250 was even at 20,506.16 in afternoon trade on Tuesday.
Travel companies Thomas Cook and On The Beach recovered after dropping sharply on Monday in the wake of Thomas Cook's warnings that a summer of sustained British sunshine had led to lower sales and price cuts.
The former outfit plummeted particularly sharply after cutting its full year guidance for earnings before interest and tax on Monday by around £40-50m to £280m as a result of the hot weather .
Oil stocks put in a solid performance, with Premier Oil, Tullow Oil and Cairn Energy all higher as Brent continued on its upward trajectory, hitting a fresh four-year high above $82 a barrel.
Greencore was higher amid newspaper reports that supermarkets and food manufacturers are signing up to efforts to drive down the UK’s annual £20bn food waste bill by committing to halving waste by 2030.
Online CFDs and forex broker Plus500, a relative FTSE 250 newcomer, was the big faller in Tuesday afternoon trade on the back of a profit warning from CMC Markets, which dropped out of the mid cap index last year. CMC said the second quarter had been hit by a sustained period of low market volatility and range-bound markets towards the end of the traditional UK summer period, as well as an expected decrease in overall client trading activity due to regulatory changes.
Asset manager BlackRock has also acquired a 7.02% stake in Plus500, it emerged on Tuesday, through shares and other financial instruments. Institutional investors now control approximately 25% of Plus500 after BlackRock's purchase but the company's shares have steadily decreased in value since it enjoyed a stunning first-half of the year due to the boom in online cryptocurrency trading.
Shares in the AA skidded lower ahead of the release of the roadside assistance group's interim results on Wednesday, despite the organisation having reported in an August trading update that it remained on course to meet full year expectations despite a 1% drop in membership.
High street greetings card retailer Card Factory retreated after it posted a drop in underlying pre-tax profit and like-for-like sales due to extreme weather and consumer caution.
Total revenue rose 3.2% to £185.3m, helped along by new store openings and growth in the company's online business, with pre-tax profit up 17.2% to £27.2m. However, LFL sales slipped 0.2% amid lower footfall and underlying pre-tax profit fell 13.9% to £22.7m.
Hungarian low-cost airline Wizz Air flew lower as oil prices continued to climb, though the company also announced new twice-weekly services between London Stansted and the Slovenian capital of Ljubljana over the winter months through its new UK subsidiary.
Spire Healthcare was resumed at ‘hold’ with a target price of 176p by Liberum but continued to fall as the broker stated that the board's guidance for 2022, which would require revenue growth of 6.7% annually and an EBITDA margin of >17%, was "no longer credible".
"We see little evidence for management to either accelerate revenue growth well beyond levels delivered historically or to raise margins back to historical levels (when business mix and pricing were better), never mind achieving both at the same time," said the broker.
Market Movers
FTSE 250 (MCX) 20,506.16 0.09%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 59.50p 6.25%
Greencore Group (GNC) 186.25p 4.96%
Premier Oil (PMO) 135.50p 4.80%
On The Beach Group (OTB) 499.36p 4.47%
IP Group (IPO) 131.00p 4.30%
Drax Group (DRX) 375.20p 3.93%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 263.22p 3.63%
SIG (SHI) 128.10p 3.31%
Entertainment One Limited (ETO) 388.60p 3.13%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 233.60p 2.91%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Plus500 Ltd (DI) (PLUS) 1,453.00p -4.60%
TalkTalk Telecom Group (TALK) 127.30p -4.36%
AA (AA.) 119.75p -4.12%
Card Factory (CARD) 179.00p -3.87%
Genus (GNS) 2,354.00p -3.84%
Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 2,872.00p -3.72%
Spire Healthcare Group (SPI) 153.30p -3.40%
Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 562.80p -2.87%
Just Group (JUST) 79.25p -2.64%
Inchcape (INCH) 670.50p -2.61%