FTSE 250 movers: Engineers Rotork and IMI wheel lower
The FTSE 250 fell almost 0.8% to 19,729.03 on Friday as stocks from a variety of sectors were cut down to size.
Rotork lost its way after losing its CEO, with Peter France resigning after the board felt a new CEO was required to return the engineer to higher growth and margins in what "is likely to be a generally lower growth macro environment". Chairman Martin Lamb will assume France's role with immediate effect until an appointment of a successor, while assuring that current trading for half year and full year guidance were in-line with expectations.
Fellow engineer IMI fell despite first-half profits edging past analysts' forecasts and management guiding higher for the full-year, citing the impact of its reorganisation activities and expectations for a modest improvement in its margins. Shares in the company had risen more than 1% since the start of the month, so this was a case of expectations having got ahead of themselves, with the upgrade only "modestly" above market expectations. Analysts noted that there were still some headwinds, particularly in the critical engineering segment due to oil demand weakness and order phasing.
Falling even further was Mitchells & Butlers, with the pub company losing some of its froth after a big rise on the prior day's strong third-quarter trading update. Shares were down almost 11%.
Just Eat fell for the second day after reporting strong first-half growth the previous day. Management bumped up revenue guidance for this year as the takeaway food website posted a 44% jump in revenue but earnings growth was not quite as strong as the market had hoped. Among analysts refining their numbers, those at Goldman Sachs cut their target price however to 870p from 900p -- offering plenty of room for the 641p shares to justify its 'buy' rating -- as management maintained EBITDA guidance of £157-163m.
Acacia Mining, following its shares best day for a while, lost 10% on reports, later confirmed by the company, that a member of staff was detained and their passport seized by the Tanzanian authorities. The gold miner reported "increased levels of pressure" from the government on its employees amid a dispute over exports and taxes, coming a few days after it was hit with a gigantic $190bn bill from the Tanzanian Revenue Authority for alleged unpaid taxes and penalties.
Risers included Millennium & Copthorne Hotels ahead of results expected next week.
Dunelm was higher as Numis updated its forecasts to reflect the homewares retailer's recent fourth quarter update. "With a strong core operation, improving trends, and significant opportunities afforded by the Worldstores acquisition," the broker told clients, believing the current valuation of 11 times 2018 financial year earnings "offers value".
FTSE 250 - Risers
Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 1,111.00p 2.78%
Millennium & Copthorne Hotels (MLC) 446.10p 2.04%
Dunelm Group (DNLM) 604.50p 1.94%
Coats Group (COA) 78.45p 1.88%
Rank Group (RNK) 233.00p 1.84%
Morgan Advanced Materials (MGAM) 297.20p 1.82%
TalkTalk Telecom Group (TALK) 187.80p 1.62%
Stobart Group Ltd. (STOB) 277.90p 1.39%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 173.00p 1.35%
Sirius Minerals (SXX) 29.89p 1.29%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) 240.90p -10.78%
Rotork (ROR) 232.60p -7.70%
IMI (IMI) 1,223.00p -4.97%
Just Eat (JE.) 641.00p -4.47%
Petra Diamonds Ltd.(DI) (PDL) 96.20p -3.80%
Sophos Group (SOPH) 456.00p -3.59%
Acacia Mining (ACA) 172.60p -3.31%
Rathbone Brothers (RAT) 2,690.00p -3.20%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 1,401.00p -3.18%
Capital & Counties Properties (CAPC) 286.40p -2.92%