FTSE 250 movers: JD Sports slips on Channel 4's Rochdale allegations
The FTSE 250 index was modestly lower on Wednesday afternoon, led lower by a group of retail and leisure stocks.
Rising retail star JD Sports was the biggest faller on Wednesday after a Channel 4 undercover investigation claimed to have found conditions in its Rochdale warehouse were "worse than a prison".
Filming secretly inside the company's Kingsway Business Park site in Greater Manchester, Channel 4 News was told by staff that conditions at the site are "worse than a prison", while a team leader "boasting of sacking workers on the spot, for as little as sitting down through exhaustion".
JD Sports responded with a statement that said the company believed the claims "are misleading and not an accurate reflection of our culture, the vast majority of our people or our standards of practice and procedures. Indeed, we believe a large number of the allegations put to us by Channel 4 are plainly untrue."
Traders said the shares, which were down 7%, were falling as investors feared the company could be hit by the sort of scandal that has engulfed rival Sports Direct, which was down almost 3% in sympathy.
Emirates-based healthcare provider NMC Health was down as it placed 18.6m shares at a price of 1,375p to raise raise roughly £255.4m before expenses in order acquire Al Zahra Hospital in Sharjah from Gulf Medical Projects for around $560m.
Wizz Air was flying flower after the Central and Eastern Europe-focused budget airline announced overnight that chief financial officer Sonia Jerez Burdeus had resigned.
Burdeus will remain with the company until 13 March, overseeing the interim management statement for the third quarter, but has decided to relocate back to Spain.
Risers were led by a group of rebounding stocks, including IG Group and CMC Markets as investors re-appraised after a big sell-off sparked by a regulatory crackdown into CFD trading.
Paysafe was bouncing back 8% after the digital payments specialist lost 18% of its value on Tuesday when it was hit by allegations in a blog by short-selling investor Spotlight Research, which claimed Paysafe’s major merchant contributes more than 50% of total net income, that the Wallet division supports gambling merchants in regions where it is prohibited, and that the Prepaid division faced substantial risk around anti-money-laundering regulations (AML 4 and AML 5).
A note from Barclays on Wednesday said the claims "grossly overstate the risks, in our view" and analysts calculated only around 20% major merchant China exposure for net income.
"In addition, Paysafe’s wallet products do not support any gambling merchants in China. Finally, the risk around AML4 is largely OpEx related and fully in our numbers while AML5 should only have some impact from 2018-19 onwards. Although we appreciate the stock’s elevated risk profile, we advise investors to use this opportunity and reiterate our OW and 610p price target."
Shares in Hastings Group spiked after the insurer confirmed that Rand Merchant Investment was acquiring a 29.9% stake. RMI, which will be able to nominate a director for appointment to the board of the FTSE 250 company, has agreed to buy the shares from Hastings Investco and certain individual shareholders for a total of between roughly £487.3-499.5m.
Pub company Mitchells & Butlers frothed up on anticipation of merger and acquisition activity in the sector after rival Punch Taverns confirmed it had received two takeover offers, one from Patron Capital Advisers on behalf of Dutch brewer Heineken and the other from Emerald Investment Partners.
FTSE 250 - Risers
IG Group Holdings (IGG) 490.80p 8.90%
Paysafe Group (PAYS) 325.40p 6.44%
Hastings Group Holdings (HSTG) 232.00p 4.79%
CMC Markets (CMCX) 98.80p 4.00%
Renishaw (RSW) 2,534.00p 3.13%
Acacia Mining (ACA) 395.50p 2.91%
Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) 240.30p 2.74%
Aveva Group (AVV) 1,835.00p 2.57%
BBA Aviation (BBA) 270.60p 2.54%
Ladbrokes Coral Group (LCL) 118.90p 2.50%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 309.70p -8.24%
Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 85.50p -3.72%
BGEO Group (BGEO) 3,142.00p -3.08%
Balfour Beatty (BBY) 271.40p -3.07%
Sports Direct International (SPD) 283.00p -2.92%
NMC Health (NMC) 1,412.00p -2.49%
Indivior (INDV) 280.40p -2.40%
Playtech (PTEC) 759.50p -2.38%
Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 1,810.00p -2.11%
Greencore Group (GNC) 240.00p -2.04%