FTSE 250 movers: AO World's losses drive market down

The FTSE 250 fell 166.68 points (0.97%) on Tuesday to 16,940.23 by mid-afternoon.

AO World took the biggest hit after it swung to an interim loss, despite posting a sharp increase in first half revenue. In the six months to 30 September, the group reported a £8.9m operating loss compared with a profit of £0.9m in the corresponding period last year, while revenue rose 21.7% year-on-year to £264.3m. The increase in revenue was driven by a strong performance in the group’s UK division, which saw revenue grow 14.5% year-on-year, compared with the 6.5% growth it reported in the three months to 30 June. AO said the second half had started well and it remained upbeat about its outlook, particularly given it still had peak trading to look forward to, starting with Black Friday later this week.

Stocks in the aviation sector took a hit after research from ForwardKeys suggested that flight bookings to Paris were down by more than a quarter last week following the attacks on 13 November. The world also watched as Turkey shot down a Russian fighter jet it claimed had entered its airspace near the Syrian border, a claim which the Kremlin denied. The incident could threaten the dozens of commercial flights each day between the two countries. On top of that, airlines EasyJet and British Airways were among airlines to announce they’ve cancelled flights to and from Sharm el Sheikh until January. With all the negative news, there wasn’t much confidence in the sector with aviation engineering support firm BBA Aviation and holiday firm Thomas Cook Group featuring among the biggest fallers. Thomas Cook also has its annual result out on Wednesday, and it’s expected to announcing a fall in profits for the year.

On the other side of the ledger, Circassia Pharmaceuticals was the market’s biggest riser after its generic asthma drug received a regulatory green light in the UK, the first ever approval for a product developed using the company's particle-engineering platform. The UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) agreed that Circassia's fluticasone propionate pressurised metered dose inhaler (pMDI) “can be approved”, which will allow the issue of a national license to begin and serve as a reference for approval in other European Union member states under the European Decentralised Procedure (EDP).

And despite trading conditions in its markets remaining challenging with further weakness in power prices, Drax Group said its but expectations for the full year are unchanged. The power station operator said it continues to benefit from good operational performance and since July, has strengthened its 2015 and 2016 hedges for power sales at prices significantly above the current market. Drax said biomass operations continue in line with expectations, with the company’s first major planned biomass unit outage completed over the summer and no biomass-related issues identified. The unit is now back in full operation. It said that in addition to the existing UK east coast port facilities, it had added further import capability with new facilities at Liverpool.

FTSE 250 - Risers

Circassia Pharmaceuticals (CIR) 276.00p 4.15%
Drax Group (DRX) 242.80p 4.12%
NMC Health (NMC) 794.00p 3.99%
Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 92.15p 3.42%
Serco Group (SRP) 103.00p 3.15%
Spire Healthcare Group (SPI) 298.50p 2.65%
Nostrum Oil & Gas (NOG) 364.20p 2.59%
Wood Group (John) (WG.) 565.50p 1.71%
Aggreko (AGK) 1,011.00p 1.61%
TR Property Inv Trust (TRY) 287.40p 1.52%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

AO World (AO.) 138.00p -15.34%
BBA Aviation (BBA) 178.10p -8.20%
Entertainment One Limited (ETO) 204.50p -5.93%
Supergroup (SGP) 1,539.00p -5.41%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 340.90p -4.16%
Halfords Group (HFD) 363.30p -4.12%
Redrow (RDW) 418.00p -3.86%
Big Yellow Group (BYG) 756.50p -3.75%
Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 98.35p -3.67%
Virgin Money Holdings (UK) (VM.) 351.10p -3.54%