FTSE 250 movers: Aggreko powers ahead but Cobham skids

London’s FTSE 250 was up 0.2% to 16,757.03 at 1355 GMT, in line with fairly muted trading in other markets as investors kept to the sidelines ahead of Friday’s US nonfarm payrolls report.

Aggreko was a high riser after its 2015 results beat analysts’ expectations.

For the year to the end of December, the temporary power provider said pre-tax profit fell 13% to £252m - the lower end of the company’s guidance - as it took as it took a hit from weak oil prices, slower payments in two of its markets and a price reduction on a contract extension in Bangladesh.

However, this was still ahead of consensus estimates of £247m and Nomura’s forecast of £239.3m and the company maintained its full year dividend of 27.12p a share.

AO World pushed higher after announcing that non-executive chairman Richard Rose has decided to step down from the online retailer after eight years.

Rose will leave the board once a successor has been appointed, which is expected to be announced by the 2016 annual general meeting in July.

On the downside, Cobham shares fell sharply on Thursday after the aerospace and defence group said it swung to a loss in 2015 and sounded a cautious note on the current year.

For the year to the end of December, Cobham posted a pre-tax loss of £40m compared with a £24m profit the previous year, despite revenue rising to £2.07bn from £1.85bn.

Cobham said some of its commercial markets are currently experiencing headwinds, driven primarily by slowing economic growth in Asia-Pacific and weakness in oil, gas and other natural resource markets.

Retailer Dunelm slipped as the stock went ex-dividend.

Tour operator Thomas Cook was under the cosh after Alphavalue cut the stock to ‘add’ from ‘buy’. At the same time, Barclays cut its target price on the stock.

Transport operator Stagecoach was also under pressure after Investec downgraded the stock to ‘sell’ from ‘reduce’ and trimmed the target price to 250p from 300p.

The brokerage said Stagecoach’s trading update on Wednesday revealed softer revenues than expected in all divisions, apart from North America.

“Whilst management’s outlook for full year profits is unchanged, we are concerned about the further weakening in UK Regional Bus, about 50% of group profits, and the limited remedies available,” Investec analyst Alex Paterson said.

“We trim forecasts by 3%, cut our recommendation to sell and lower target price to 250p, from 300p, due to the decline in Regional Bus and lack of new rail opportunities.”

Risers

Aggreko (AGK) 995.00p 11.11%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 344.90p 10.47%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 192.90p 8.19%
AO World (AO.) 183.00p 7.21%
Drax Group (DRX) 265.10p 6.17%
Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 941.00p 5.26%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 174.30p 5.00%
Ashmore Group (ASHM) 255.10p 4.98%
Virgin Money Holdings (UK) (VM.) 381.80p 4.89%
Rotork (ROR) 187.40p 4.81%

Fallers

Cobham (COB) 243.00p -6.18%
Dunelm Group (DNLM) 974.00p -4.32%
Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 104.00p -4.06%
Crest Nicholson Holdings (CRST) 540.50p -3.83%
Paddy Power Betfair (PPB) 9,955.00p -3.82%
Stagecoach Group (SGC) 268.70p -3.10%
Indivior (INDV) 161.00p -2.95%
Bovis Homes Group (BVS) 914.50p -2.92%
NCC Group (NCC) 283.20p -2.81%
John Laing Infrastructure Fund Ltd (JLIF) 114.00p -2.48%