FTSE 250 movers: Indivior surges on results; Laird slumps as CEO goes to Cobham

London’s FTSE 250 index was down 0.2% to 17,779.06 in afternoon trade.

Indivior shares surged after the company said its new heroin addiction treatment has proved successful in late-stage clinical trials, meaning it could be approved for sale in the US by the end of next year.

Construction group Balfour Beatty rose sharply after saying it has reinstated its dividend and reporting a smaller loss for the half year ended 1 July. The pre-tax loss for the period narrowed to £21m from £150m the same time a year ago, on revenue of £4.1bn, down a touch from £4.2bn.

The company reinstated it dividend with a 0.9p per share payment in a sign that the turnaround plan under boss Leo Quinn is bearing fruit.

Savills got a boost as Citigroup upgraded the stock to ‘buy’ from ‘neutral’ following solid first-half results.

“We were reassured by this resilient performance which served to remind us as to the true portfolio within the group with limited reliance on any one geography or business stream,” Citi said.

On the downside, Laird tumbled on news its chief executive officer David Lockwood was leaving to take up the position at aerospace and defence engineer Cobham.

Polypipe was under the cosh a day after it released its results for the six months to the end of June, which showed revenue rose 31% to £223.3m.

Euromoney Institutional Investor was also on the back foot after announcing at the beginning of the week that it has signed a binding contract to buy real-time metals market information provider FastMarkets.

Risers

Indivior (INDV) 338.30p 12.39%
Balfour Beatty (BBY) 261.40p 6.96%
Savills (SVS) 742.00p 6.15%
Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 5,650.00p 3.57%
DFS Furniture (DFS) 258.80p 2.86%
Pendragon (PDG) 32.93p 2.71%
Restaurant Group (RTN) 421.00p 2.68%
CMC Markets (CMCX) 277.00p 2.59%
PayPoint (PAY) 988.50p 2.54%
Keller Group (KLR) 902.00p 2.50%

Fallers

Laird (LRD) 307.20p -7.19%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 297.50p -5.16%
Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 1,055.00p -4.87%
Ibstock (IBST) 172.00p -4.76%
NMC Health (NMC) 1,277.00p -3.98%
Polypipe Group (PLP) 270.00p -3.57%
Aveva Group (AVV) 1,882.00p -3.49%
Card Factory (CARD) 289.90p -3.01%
Entertainment One Limited (ETO) 246.80p -2.99%
Capital & Counties Properties (CAPC) 283.10p -2.11%