FTSE 250 movers: Downgrade hits Cairn; Dairy Crest churns ahead

Cairn Energy led the 250 fallers as the stock was on Tuesday downgraded by Canaccord Genuity to a ‘hold’ rating from ‘buy’ and its target price cut to 220p from 240p.

The downgrade follows news that Woodside Petroleum has agreed to pay $430m for ConocoPhillips’ 35% stake in Senegal offshore oil joint venture, SNE, operated by Cairn Energy.

Woodside is paying $12.3m per percentage of working interest, which implies a cash valuation of $491m for Cairn's 40% holding in the assets covering three blocks offshore Senegal.

“That is substantially below our previous net present value estimate at $65 per barrel of light crude Brent of $747m,” said Canaccord analyst Charlie Sharp.

Evraz shares dropped as the Russian steel maker's consolidated second quarter crude steel output fell 9.9% to 3.2m tonnes against the previous three months, primarily due to planned capital repairs at a blast furnace.

Dairy Crest churned ahead as the company said first-quarter trading was in line with full year expectations. Combined sales volumes of key brands Cathedral City, Clover, Country Life and Frylight were in line with the same period last year.

The FTSE 250 group said the relaunch of Cathedral City with new packaging and branding, supported by a hefty media and promotional campaign, had gone well.

"The year has started off as we expected. Our branded business continues to perform well," said chief executive Mark Allen in a statement ahead of the annual shareholder meeting.

Market Movers

FTSE 250 (MCX) 16,843.64 -0.14%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Ascential (ASCL) 254.90p 3.70%
Micro Focus International (MCRO) 1,885.00p 2.89%
Fidessa Group (FDSA) 2,421.00p 2.72%
Dairy Crest Group (DCG) 586.00p 2.54%
Metro Bank (MTRO) 1,945.00p 2.53%
Domino's Pizza Group (DOM) 372.80p 2.33%
Polar Capital Technology Trust (PCT) 685.00p 2.24%
CLS Holdings (CLI) 1,385.00p 1.99%
Dechra Pharmaceuticals (DPH) 1,228.00p 1.91%
Shaftesbury (SHB) 881.50p 1.85%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Cairn Energy (CNE) 190.60p -4.84%
SIG (SHI) 106.00p -3.81%
Evraz (EVR) 156.30p -3.76%
Weir Group (WEIR) 1,498.00p -3.29%
Essentra (ESNT) 628.50p -3.01%
DFS Furniture (DFS) 210.20p -3.00%
Electrocomponents (ECM) 259.00p -3.00%
Amec Foster Wheeler (AMFW) 468.10p -2.96%
Wood Group (John) (WG.) 668.50p -2.90%
Ibstock (IBST) 133.20p -2.27%