FTSE 250 movers: G4S secures gains, Indivior in freefall

London's FTSE 250 index was 0.21% higher at 19,473.92 in afternoon trade on Wednesday, with G4S leading the index upwards.

Shares in the security services firm gained ground amid speculation that Canadian rival GardaWorld might be looking to buy the group for about £3bn.

Jefferies analysts quoted in the Financial Times said: "GardaWorld is executing an aggressive roll-up strategy under an extremely ambitious management team and deal size is increasing as they were linked with a $2.0bn-$2.5bn offer for Constellis [formerly known as Blackwater] last year."

Recruiter PageGroup was in the green as it reported an 11.7% rise in first-quarter gross profit to £208m, with solid UK and German growth offsetting a slowdown in China over trade war fears.

Homewares retailer Dunelm also rallied as it said total like-for-like revenue for the third quarter increased by 12.5%, continuing the growth trend from the first half of the year.

Analysts at Edison Investment Research said: "Dunelm has delivered a knockout third quarter trading performance. Strategically, Dunelm has been vindicated in its focus on the core business; management expects year pre-tax profit to be slightly ahead of the top end of current market consensus."

On the downside, Indivior was the biggest loser, tumbling 70% after the US Department of Justice charged the company with engaging in a fraudulent marketing scheme to boost prescriptions of its opioid addiction treatment, Suboxone Film.

A grand jury in the Western District of Virginia said the company had "illegally obtained billions of dollars in revenue from Suboxone film prescriptions by deceiving healthcare providers and healthcare benefit programmes into believing that Suboxone film is safer and less susceptible to diversion and abuse than other, similar drugs", leaving Indivior potentially liable for $3bn in damages.

Shares in Stagecoach fell after the transport operator announced that it has been disqualified from three major rail contract bids due to risks concerning pension funding over the life of the franchises.

Finally, Qinetiq was knocked lower by a downgrade to 'hold' from 'buy' at Investec after the defence technology outfit announced that its QinetiQ Pension Scheme has completed its first bulk annuity insurance buy-in for approximately £690m, while Hochschild Mining dropped after JPMorgan cut the stock's price target from 160p to 150p.

Market Movers

FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,473.92 0.21%

FTSE 250 - Risers

G4S (GFS) 215.00p 16.44%
Pagegroup (PAGE) 521.50p 5.74%
Safestore Holdings (SAFE) 622.00p 3.49%
Contour Global (GLO) 202.00p 3.27%
Inchcape (INCH) 588.00p 3.07%
Amigo Holdings (AMGO) 240.00p 3.00%
Sophos Group (SOPH) 342.80p 2.88%
Dunelm Group (DNLM) 888.50p 2.72%
Energean Oil & Gas (ENOG) 793.00p 2.19%
FirstGroup (FGP) 98.85p 2.17%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Indivior (INDV) 37.06p -65.02%
Stagecoach Group (SGC) 122.81p -7.87%
Plus500 Ltd (DI) (PLUS) 717.00p -5.28%
Saga (SAGA) 56.95p -4.04%
QinetiQ Group (QQ.) 295.60p -3.08%
Funding Circle Holdings (FCH) 313.88p -2.97%
Vesuvius (VSVS) 606.69p -2.46%
Ascential (ASCL) 353.40p -2.27%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 200.20p -2.05%
Meggitt (MGGT) 511.20p -1.88%