FTSE 250 movers: GVC Holdings rallies but Regus slides on placing

London’s FTSE 250 was up 0.2% to 17,932.31 in afternoon trade.

GVC Holdings was the standout gainer after the online gaming and gambling group said it was confident of achieving a result at the upper end of market expectations for 2016 after a strong first half result.

Having completed the acquisition of larger rival Bwin.Party in February, GVC more than doubled adjusted pre-tax profit to €51.3m in the first six months of the year and said organic growth opportunities from the acquisition were greater than it had initially expected but would need to be extracted through increased marketing investment.

TalkTalk racked up healthy gains as Redburn upgraded the stock to ‘neutral’.

“TalkTalk is not the only structurally challenged UK player. O2 and Three are subscale, need spectrum and face quad play from BT/Sky/Virgin. We now see a higher chance of one of them backing into the TalkTalk quote. There is still downside to our 150p standalone value with weak interims expected (15 Nov), but a ‘newco’ would have a very different valuation.”

Rotork was also on the front foot as Credit Suisse initiated coverage of the stock at ‘outperform’ with a 230p price target.

“We see Rotork as a high-quality company and while we do not discount a recovery in end markets, we see continued support for earnings from ongoing acquisitions and FX.”

In addition, the bank said it sees scope for continued consolidation in the Process Automation, adding that Rotork is in an attractive asset given its relatively high market shares in niche markets.

On the downside, Regus was weaker as it emerged the founder and chief executive of the flexible workspace provider, Mark Dixon, is selling 37m shares, equivalent to a 4% stake, in an accelerated bookbuild.

The shares are being placed at 275p each, with JPMorgan Cazenove acting as sole bookrunner. The placing will take Dixon’s stake down to 27.7% from 31.7%.

Greencore was under the cosh on news the company’s finance chief has quit to take up the role of chief financial officer at Travis Perkins.

Risers

GVC Holdings (GVC) 759.00p 5.20%
TalkTalk Telecom Group (TALK) 206.30p 4.72%
Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 75.75p 3.41%
Shawbrook Group (SHAW) 244.30p 3.04%
Victrex plc (VCT) 1,545.00p 2.93%
Croda International (CRDA) 3,401.00p 2.81%
Rotork (ROR) 221.10p 2.69%
Ladbrokes (LAD) 146.80p 2.02%
Wetherspoon (J.D.) (JDW) 935.00p 1.85%
Derwent London (DLN) 2,598.00p 1.84%

Fallers

Regus (RGU) 271.90p -6.18%
Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 1,135.00p -4.06%
Just Eat (JE.) 530.00p -3.64%
Hunting (HTG) 420.40p -3.16%
Countrywide (CWD) 227.10p -3.11%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 266.00p -2.92%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 217.80p -2.72%
Greencore Group (GNC) 341.30p -2.68%
McCarthy & Stone (MCS) 163.30p -2.22%
Amec Foster Wheeler (AMFW) 531.00p -2.21%