FTSE 250 movers: Ferrexpo falters, Computacenter climbs
London's FTSE 250 index was down 0.17% at 19,837.02 in afternoon trade on Friday, with Ferrexpo leading the index lower.
The iron ore mining company tumbled after saying that Deloitte LLP has resigned as its statutory auditor with immediate effect, while Hastings lost ground after the company posted a 1% drop in its net revenues for the first quarter.
Analysts from Shore Capital said: "The majority of the growth has been driven by growth in policy numbers with 2.75m active policies, up 3% from Q1 2018 and 1% higher than at the end of 2018. This implies a small increase in pricing over the quarter which we see as an encouraging start to the year but as yet not sufficient indication of a material turn in the motor pricing cycle."
Meanwhile, Kaz Minerals was also lower as JPMorgan analysts cut the stock's price target from 635p to 630p.
Computacenter surged as it said it was on track to meet full-year guidance and that revenue and profitability in the first quarter to the end of March 2019 were ahead of the same quarter a year ago.
A note from Peel Hunt said: "We are pleasantly surprised by the health of the IT market. We were cautious in our recent sector book, but if these data points continue into Q2, we may have to revisit our caution on the IT spending outlook for the year."
Investment platform company AJ Bell climbed as it said its interim results were anticipated to be slightly ahead of expectations as total assets under administration rose 8% to £47.7bn in the second quarter.
Finally, bus and rail operator Stagecoach was boosted by an upgrade to 'buy' at Citi, with analysts stating that they saw the company's portfolio as "significantly de-risked" following the sale of its underperforming North American division.
Market Movers
FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,837.02 -0.17%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Computacenter (CCC) 1,279.00p 18.65%
AJ Bell (AJB) 407.00p 7.96%
Stagecoach Group (SGC) 130.40p 7.15%
Bank of Georgia Group (BGEO) 1,735.00p 4.39%
Clarkson (CKN) 2,535.00p 3.47%
UDG Healthcare Public Limited Company (UDG) 643.50p 3.46%
Royal Mail (RMG) 254.10p 2.25%
Funding Circle Holdings (FCH) 247.33p 1.99%
Greencore Group (GNC) 225.80p 1.94%
Softcat (SCT) 878.50p 1.91%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 191.30p -28.86%
Hastings Group Holdings (HSTG) 190.70p -12.92%
Premier Oil (PMO) 98.74p -5.87%
Hunting (HTG) 604.00p -3.82%
Galliford Try (GFRD) 507.50p -3.15%
Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 651.60p -2.78%
Wood Group (John) (WG.) 500.60p -2.61%
Weir Group (WEIR) 1,718.50p -2.61%
Contour Global (GLO) 206.00p -2.60%
Metro Bank (MTRO) 799.50p -2.50%