FTSE 250 movers: BCA Marketplace rallies on possible bid; Dixons Carphone slumps
London's FTSE 250 was up 0.9% at 19,410.43 in afternoon trade on Thursday, with BCA Marketplace pacing the gains.
BCA Marketplace surged after it confirmed it is in advanced discussions with private equity firm TDR Capital about a possible cash offer for the company.
The used vehicle marketplace, which owns WeBuyAnyCar, said TDR has offered 243p per share in cash, valuing the company at around £1.9bn. This represents a 25% premium to the stock's closing price on Wednesday.
Homewares retailer Dunelm was a high riser after saying it expects pre-tax profits for the year to 29 June 2019 to be ahead of expectations, driven by good weather and strong trading across its businesses. The company forecast pre-tax profits to be in the range of £124 - £126m compared with £102m in 2018.
Gold miner Centamin rallied as gold prices rose to a more than five-year high after the Federal Reserve struck a dovish tone in its policy announcement on Wednesday.
On the downside, Dixons Carphone saw its shares tumble as the electricals and mobile phone retailer reported a slump in full year profits and warned of further falls in the current trading year.
Paragon Banking Group lost ground after RBC Capital Markets downgraded the stock to 'underperform' from 'sector perform' and cut its price target to 410p from 440p.
"Paragon shares have outperformed UK banks this year and trade 30% higher than post EU referendum lows whereas other UK banks trade closer to this level," RBC said. "We downgrade to Underperform on relative valuation."
Cineworld, Tate & Lyle and B&M European Value Retail all fell as their stock went ex-dividend.
FTSE 250 - Risers
BCA Marketplace (BCA) 235.80p 21.17%
Saga (SAGA) 35.56p 7.56%
Dunelm Group (DNLM) 961.00p 6.31%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 214.30p 5.36%
Premier Oil (PMO) 76.91p 5.27%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 184.40p 5.01%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 110.09p 4.75%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 162.90p 3.89%
TI Fluid Systems (TIFS) 199.40p 3.85%
Polymetal International (POLY) 928.80p 3.25%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Dixons Carphone (DC.) 114.80p -7.83%
Cineworld Group (CINE) 262.10p -6.73%
Intu Properties (INTU) 79.04p -4.12%
Paragon Banking Group (PAG) 435.20p -3.03%
Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings (AML) 1,027.00p -2.93%
Tate & Lyle (TATE) 736.80p -1.76%
B&M European Value Retail S.A. (DI) (BME) 329.00p -1.73%
NewRiver REIT (NRR) 188.09p -1.62%
Bank of Georgia Group (BGEO) 1,634.00p -1.57%
Contour Global (GLO) 185.20p -1.49%