FTSE 250 movers: Britvic keeps market bubbling up

The FTSE 250 was in the black and rising by mid-afternoon Wednesday, up 35.23 points (0.22%) to 16,214.25.

Britvic shares were up over 5% after the soft drinks maker reported a rise in first quarter revenue as it reiterated its full year earnings guidance.

In a trading update for the 12 weeks to 20 December, the company said reported revenue rose 4.8% from the previous year to £311.6m. On an organic basis, however, revenue declined 2.4% to £290m.

"As anticipated, our first quarter performance reflected both the prevailing challenging trading conditions and a slow start in October,” said Chief executive Simon Litherland. "However trading over the entire Christmas period in our core markets was encouraging, with revenue ahead of last year, and in the quarter, we grew or held market value share in each of these markets.”

Britvic reaffirmed its earnings before interest, taxes, and amortisation range of £180m to £190m for 2016.

Paragon Group of Companies investors were happy with the first quarter in which its banking division turned a profit, with its buy-to-let division also growing sizeably in the three months to 31 December 2015.

The group described its financial performance as strong and in line with management expectations, with underlying operating profits up 13.9% on the corresponding period a year earlier at £35.2m. Paragon said the figure excluded costs of £2.2m incurred in connection with its acquisition of the Five Arrows Leasing Group completed on 3 November 2015.

It also said its capital base remained strong, as reflected by its core tier 1 ratio which stood at 16.8% at the end of the period, and its leverage ratio of 7.0%.

Paragon said its buy-to-let operations were 80.6% higher than in the same period of 2015, at £400.9m. The period end buy-to-let pipeline stood at £595.7m, 43% higher than at the same point in 2014.

ICAP shares were also up after Credit Suisse upgraded the interdealer broker to ‘outperform’ from ‘neutral’ saying deal synergies and the stock’s re-rating potential appeared to be undervalued.

In November, ICAP announced plans to sell its global broking division to Tullett Prebon. The enlarged group will be known as TP-ICAP and ICAP shareholders will get a 56% stake.

Credit Suisse said that following recent share price weakness, the stock price now failed to capture upside to shareholders from deal synergies and long-term value creation potential resulting from industry consolidation. In addition, it argued the re-rating potential was under-appreciated.

Meanwhile, shares in Just Eat were under pressure after Morgan Stanley downgraded the stock to ‘underweight’ from ‘equalweight’ and cut the price target to 390p from 450p.

It pointed out Just Eat has performed very strongly since its IPO, with some appearing to believe “supernormal” growth can continue for years.

“As a result, we think sentiment on Just Eat is overwhelmingly positive and we are alone in having an underweight on the shares,” said MS, adding that the shares do not reflect risks from increased competition.

The bank said new evidence suggests the group is losing share of UK delivery restaurants as alternative platforms expand and deliver from an increasing number of restaurants. As a result, it assumed a slight drop in Just Eat’s total addressable market over the next five years.

Tullow Oil gave back some gains after rallying on Tuesday as oil prices held above $30 a barrel. The company was also the subject of a Bloomberg survey of traders suggesting it could be a likely takeover target.

FTSE 250 - Risers

Britvic (BVIC) 714.00p 5.31%
Greencore Group (GNC) 379.00p 4.70%
Acacia Mining (ACA) 197.00p 4.23%
IP Group (IPO) 182.70p 3.81%
Paragon Group Of Companies (PAG) 324.00p 3.42%
Genus (GNS) 1,443.00p 3.29%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 270.90p 3.28%
CLS Holdings (CLI) 1,608.00p 3.08%
ICAP (IAP) 463.80p 3.07%
Greggs (GRG) 1,025.00p 3.02%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Just Eat (JE.) 386.40p -8.11%
Evraz (EVR) 59.75p -7.94%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 148.60p -4.68%
Bwin.party Digital Entertainment (BPTY) 120.10p -4.15%
Allied Minds (ALM) 270.00p -3.81%
Wood Group (John) (WG.) 600.00p -2.91%
SIG (SHI) 133.50p -2.55%
Electrocomponents (ECM) 212.30p -2.53%
BTG (BTG) 589.00p -2.48%
Savills (SVS) 766.00p -2.36%