FTSE 250 movers: Esure slides on profits woe, Inchcape higher on earnings growth

Insurer Esure topped the fallers after saying that annual profits declined 12.8% on the back of challenging conditions in the insurance market and costs associated with the takeover of Gocompare, leading to some big broker downgrades.

Premier Oil was also trading lower despite news it has started gas production in the Pelikan field in Indonesia. The group said both its Pelikan and Naga fields are expected to deliver additional reserves into Singapore under its long-term gas contracts.

Cairn Energy was in the red, as its reduction in full-years losses failed to outweigh further declines in the crude price. However, the oil explorer said it remained hopeful its Senegal discovery would prove a “a world class asset”.

Inchcape was among the risers after the company revealed its fifth consecutive year of double-digit earnings growth. Strong sales momentum in Australasia and South Asia compensated for currency fluctuations as full-year revenues increased 10%.

Allied Minds was boosted by news it has formed BridgeSat in partnership with the US federally-funded Aerospace Corp, as part of a commercialisation collaboration. The partnership will look to build an optical connectivity system to improve the wireless transfer of data from satellites.

Risers
Inchcape (INCH) 791.00p +6.75%
Allied Minds (ALM) 602.50p +6.64%
Countrywide (CWD) 525.00p +2.14%
Nostrum Oil & Gas (NOG) 603.00p +1.26%
CLS Holdings (CLI) 1,706.00p +1.19%
Beazley (BEZ) 284.00p +1.03%
NMC Health (NMC) 636.00p +0.95%
Fisher (James) & Sons (FSJ) 1,322.00p +0.92%
Unite Group (UTG) 559.00p +0.81%
Just Eat (JE.) 343.30p +0.79%

Fallers
esure Group (ESUR) 211.60p -9.50%
Lonmin (LMI) 116.30p -7.92%
Premier Oil (PMO) 144.40p -6.84%
Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 206.70p -6.47%
Ophir Energy (OPHR) 131.10p -6.42%
Petra Diamonds Ltd.(DI) (PDL) 174.80p -5.97%
RPS Group (RPS) 231.00p -5.91%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 186.70p -5.75%
Afren (AFR) 5.20p -4.94%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 549.00p -4.44%