FTSE 250 movers: Investors place bets on William Hill, oil companies slip

The FTSE 250 was just above the waterline in afternoon trading on Monday, as traders looked to upcoming central bank meetings in the US and Japan later this week.

Bookmaker William Hill was leading the risers, after receiving an approach over the weekend from rival 888 Holdings and casino firm Rank Group about a potential £3bn three-way merger.

888 and Rank have until 21 August to formalise their merger intentions, and said on Monday morning they see “significant industrial logic” in the combination.

William Hill’s board said in a statement that they “would listen to and consider” any proposal that might emerge from discussions.

IP Group was still riding the wave of positivity after having its ‘buy’ rating reiterated by brokers at Numis on Friday.

The report noted a target price of 263p on the shares, indicating a potential upside of 76.16% at the time.

Softcat was also well into the green after analysts at Berenberg reiterated their ‘buy’ rating on the stock, with a 425p price target indicating a potential upside of 27.7%.

Oil and energy-related companies peppered the downside during afternoon trading, with Cairn Energy, Tullow Oil, Amec Foster Wheeler and Petrofac all among the index’s biggest losers so far.

Analysts have raised concern about global oil demand as the typical August and September downturn in American consumption looms.

Cairn Energy’s losses came in spite of a sweetened offer from Vedanta to take over its Indian unit.

The offer was tabled on Friday, with Vedanta agreeing to give one share and four redeemable preference shares for each share in Cairn India.

Its initial offer in June 2015 was for one share and one redeemable preference share.

Amec Foster Wheeler was in the red, even though it won an engineering and project management services contract from PT Pertamina and Saudi Aramco for an upgrade and extension project of the Cilacap Refinery in central Java, Indonesia.

FTSE 250 - Risers

William Hill (WMH) 335.20p 6.89%
IP Group (IPO) 163.10p 6.88%
CYBG (CYBG) 253.80p 5.05%
Keller Group (KLR) 1,035.00p 4.55%
Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 5,465.00p 4.39%
Electrocomponents (ECM) 293.20p 4.01%
Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 994.50p 3.92%
Softcat (SCT) 344.90p 3.64%
Telecom Plus (TEP) 1,070.00p 3.58%
McCarthy & Stone (MCS) 163.90p 3.54%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Cairn Energy (CNE) 178.50p -5.76%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 152.70p -3.84%
Vectura Group (VEC) 149.60p -3.73%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 205.50p -3.11%
Aldermore Group (ALD) 131.70p -3.09%
Amec Foster Wheeler (AMFW) 460.80p -2.89%
Acacia Mining (ACA) 543.50p -2.77%
Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 772.00p -2.46%
Vesuvius (VSVS) 331.60p -2.41%
Wood Group (John) (WG.) 668.00p -1.76%