FTSE 250 movers: Broker notes spur on big movers

The FTSE 250 looks to finish the day in the green, with the second-tier market up 228.85 point (1.36%) to 17,001.42 mid-afternoon Tuesday.

Circassia Pharmaceuticals rose to the top of the ranks after RBC Capital Markets initiated coverage at ‘top pick’ for the company. “With intrinsic value still almost wholly aligned to its immunotherapy assets and the first set to produce Phase 3 data in 1H 2016, we think investors should buy ahead of this newsflow given impressive prior P2b data and as investor doubts about trial success have provided for a healthy risk/reward profile,” a note from the investment bank said. It said news about its lead immunotherapy drug CAT-SPIRE in the first half of 2016 should act as a catalyst for the stock, and that there’s a further potential newsflow in 2017 that could see a further re-rating.

RBC Capital Markets also initiated coverage on the market’s second biggest riser, BTG, at ‘outperform’ with a price target of 820p, saying it should be a long-term holding. It said share in the specialist pharmaceutical company have underperformed materially over the past year and, while medium-term market expectations are still ambitious, the potential near-term approval of RePneu in the US and BTG's long-term growth prospects are fundamental reasons to own the stock. RBC said the stock weakness has been almost entirely associated with the weak launch of the company’s varicose vein product, Varithena, but now presents an opportunity as the factors behind the selloff are being resolved and are short term. “Given the advantages of this product over current technologies, we continue to believe Varithena could exceed management's $500m revenue target,” it said.

The rebound in oil prices has also boosted a number of second-tier stocks. Earlier in the day West Texas Intermediate crude was up 1.43% to $36.83, while Brent crude also rose 1.58% to $38.52 a barrel. That forced Tullow Oil shares up over 5% on the day.

Aveva Group was the day’s biggest faller, plunging over 28% on news it had terminated takeover talks with French suitor Schneider Electric after the pair were unable to reach agreement. The engineering software group said that during the due diligence process, the two companies identified "significant integration challenges" that they did not feel could be overcome without considerable additional risk and cost. Aveva had previously commented that Schneider Electric and Schneider Software shared backoffice and property resources, and that separating these would be no small task. As a result, it was decided that the combination would be unlikely to deliver the anticipated uplift in shareholder value.

FTSE 250 - Risers

Circassia Pharmaceuticals (CIR) 301.00p 9.26%
BTG (BTG) 670.00p 7.46%
Evraz (EVR) 62.30p 6.04%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 160.70p 5.65%
Investec (INVP) 456.00p 5.51%
AA (AA.) 283.90p 5.30%
RPC Group (RPC) 821.00p 4.92%
Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 118.50p 4.87%
UBM (UBM) 494.90p 4.61%
Henderson Group (HGG) 289.30p 4.25%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Aveva Group (AVV) 1,548.00p -28.53%
Home Retail Group (HOME) 95.40p -7.20%
Supergroup (SGP) 1,510.00p -6.73%
Foxtons Group (FOXT) 178.40p -4.34%
Domino's Pizza Group (DOM) 962.00p -3.46%
Paragon Group Of Companies (PAG) 346.80p -3.16%
Keller Group (KLR) 792.50p -3.00%
Serco Group (SRP) 94.10p -2.69%
Halfords Group (HFD) 334.00p -2.68%
Virgin Money Holdings (UK) (VM.) 371.20p -2.37%