FTSE 250 movers: Interserve surges while market punishes William Hill

The FTSE 250 was trading just below the waterline before the close on Wednesday, after opening the session in the positive and then briefly nudging the green again the late trading.

Interserve was one of the top risers, still recovering after the support services and construction company suffered a serious slide on Monday.

The fall at the beginning of the week came after analysts at Berenberg cut its target price to 520p from 645p, which came after the company earlier highlighted contractual issues in a trading update.

Last week, Interserve’s board said expectations for its UK construction division had been “significantly adversely impacted” by a further deterioration in the Glasgow energy from waste contract.

Berenberg’s update on Monday said the announcement was “an unwelcome surprise,” but reiterated its ‘buy’ rating on the stock, noting the contractual problem was an isolated issue - and investors seemed to be in agreement on Wednesday.

Renishaw was another top riser, as investors apparently ignored its foreign exchange issues and concentrated on its strong performance in the third quarter, where the company claimed underlying growth of 5% when taking forex headwinds and a drop in Asian orders into account.

Total revenue, taking those factors into account, actually fell in Renishaw’s third quarter, to £109.6m from £145.9m 12 months ago.

Still, the firm reaffirmed its full-year expectations for revenue to be in the range of £420m-£440m, with a profit before tax in the range of £67m-£83m.

Estate agent Savills was also on the up, after it confirmed a slowdown in commercial and residential property activity in the lead-up to the Brexit referendum in late June, though it did reiterate that its expectations for the year remained unchanged.

On the downside, bookmaker William Hill was under pressure after doing its level best to assure investors that trading had stabilised since its shock profit warning in March, although a mixed trading update did little to appease sentiments.

In the 17 weeks to 26 April, William Hill said trading remained in line with its full-year operating profit guidance of £250m-£280m if gross margins remain at normal levels.

Challenger lender and retail savings group OneSavings Bank was also on the downward slope, as investors expressed their sentiments about it adding £460m to its books in new loans and advances in the first quarter.

The firm did say the additions were driven by strong organic origination accelerated by acquisitions of first and second charge residential mortgage portfolios, though it did indicate that its year-end cost-to-income ratio could push higher than the 26% achieved last year.

N Brown was another still slipping downwards, after Numis downgraded the stock to ‘hold’ from ‘add’ this week.

"Nevertheless, with a number of substantial tailwinds, including positive product momentum brought in from the end of FY15, price investments, bought-in gains, optimised marketing, and some weak comps, we cannot help but feel the business should have been making profit progress this year," the broker said on Tuesday.

FTSE 250 - Risers

Centamin (DI) (CEY) 113.00p 6.70%
Interserve (IRV) 311.50p 4.43%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 249.00p 4.40%
Renishaw (RSW) 1,946.00p 4.29%
Polymetal International (POLY) 698.50p 4.02%
Acacia Mining (ACA) 321.60p 3.21%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 207.00p 2.88%
Ibstock (IBST) 190.10p 2.81%
Evraz (EVR) 116.00p 2.75%
Spire Healthcare Group (SPI) 346.60p 2.54%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

William Hill (WMH) 305.60p -5.77%
P2P Global Investments (P2P) 879.00p -3.93%
OneSavings Bank (OSB) 273.00p -3.84%
Brown (N.) Group (BWNG) 238.80p -3.67%
Millennium & Copthorne Hotels (MLC) 428.20p -3.14%
Bovis Homes Group (BVS) 865.50p -2.48%
Workspace Group (WKP) 832.00p -2.46%
Shawbrook Group (SHAW) 259.30p -2.41%
Derwent London (DLN) 3,329.00p -2.17%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 288.70p -2.14%