FTSE 250 movers: David Brent blows steam into Entertainment One

The FTSE 250 was comfortably in the black in afternoon trading on Friday, with oil prices heading upwards and investors seemingly nonchalant about a trade deficit that was wider than forecast.

As oil prices rose, so did oilfield engineering services firm Weir Group. The stock also had its ‘buy’ rating reiterated by analysts at Nomura in a morning note. The target price on the stock was set at 1190p, indicating a potential upside of 18.5% from the opening price of 1004p. Weir Group has had a tumultuous ride over the last three months, having dropped eight points in the last 30 trading days but increased 156.5 points in the last 90.

Entertainment One was also on the up, a day after the first trailer for its Ricky Gervais movie was released to the masses. David Brent: Life on the Road is a spin-off from the popular BBC comedy series The Office, and stars Gervais as a Slough-based cleaning products distributor called Lavichem, trying to make his way towards a career as a singer-songwriter. Entertainment One holds the non-US distribution rights to the film, which will be released in the UK on 19 August.

Specialty chemicals company Elementis was under pressure after it had its stock rating downgraded to ‘hold’ by analysts at Berenberg. The analysts set a target price of 220p on Elementis, which indicated a potential downside of 7.8% from the current price of 238.6p.

DFS Furniture was also sliding for much of the day, after it emerged in the morning that Advent International had agreed to sell a 14.1% stake in the retailer for £90m. Advent was selling 30m shares at 300p apiece to institutional investors, which would leave the private equity firm with 54.1m remaining shares, or 24.1%. Settlement of the placing was expected next Tuesday.

Risers

Weir Group (WEIR) 1,063.00p 7.16%
Acacia Mining (ACA) 291.00p 6.20%
Entertainment One Limited (ETO) 154.70p 6.10%
AA (AA.) 279.00p 5.40%
PayPoint (PAY) 804.00p 5.30%
Vectura Group (VEC) 171.00p 5.04%
Ashmore Group (ASHM) 290.80p 4.72%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 350.20p 4.63%
Evraz (EVR) 94.25p 4.09%
Card Factory (CARD) 358.00p 3.71%

Fallers

Elementis (ELM) 219.90p -7.84%
DFS Furniture (DFS) 297.60p -7.26%
Supergroup (SGP) 1,358.00p -4.37%
WH Smith (SMWH) 1,801.00p -4.10%
Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 141.50p -3.61%
Greencore Group (GNC) 382.80p -2.45%
Allied Minds (ALM) 385.00p -2.33%
McCarthy & Stone (MCS) 263.90p -2.30%
Victrex plc (VCT) 1,538.00p -1.60%
UDG Healthcare Public Limited Company (UDG) 611.00p -1.45%