FTSE 250 movers: Melrose rises on update; Jimmy Choo on back foot

London’s FTSE 250 index was up 0.1% to 17,155.38 at 1545 GMT, rounding off the week on a fairly muted note.

Melrose Industries was in the black after it said trading for the Elster Group it agreed to sell to Honeywell in July was strong in the 10 months to October, although its Brush business experience challenging end market conditions. Sales at Elster were up 14% versus last year at constancy currency, 6% if excluding the acquisition of Eclipse in November last year. Melrose said the sale of the group was on course to complete in first the quarter of next year.

Poundland bounced back from whopping losses in the previous session after it said profit in the first half dropped by more than a quarter and cautioned over volatile pre-Christmas trading. The single-price retailer’s underlying results for the period ended 27 September were largely disappointing, with like-for-like sales down 2.8% and EBITDA down 18.5% to £16.5m. Pre-tax profits were down a sizeable 26.3% to £9.3m.

Luxury shoe retailer Jimmy Choo was on the back foot after Bank of America Merrill Lynch downgraded its stance on the stock to ‘neutral’ from ‘buy’, cutting the price target to 165p from 195p.

Countrywide was also lower after Citigroup cut the stock to ‘neutral’ from ‘buy’ and slashed the price target to 425p from 615p.

“Whilst fundamentals regarding affordability still look attractive, we have admittedly been too positive on the timing of the recovery in housing transactions. A lack of supply is still holding back the sector. We also note that Countrywide’s market share has been drifting slightly,” Citi said.

FTSE 250 - Risers

Allied Minds (ALM) 450.90p 4.47%
Senior (SNR) 246.40p 2.92%
Ted Baker (TED) 3,573.00p 2.38%
CLS Holdings (CLI) 1,766.00p 2.26%
Morgan Advanced Materials (MGAM) 251.00p 2.07%
Poundland Group (PLND) 227.20p 2.02%
IMI (IMI) 935.50p 2.02%
Melrose Industries (MRO) 285.60p 2.00%
Investec (INVP) 552.50p 1.94%
Electrocomponents (ECM) 236.40p 1.90%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Ophir Energy (OPHR) 84.60p -6.62%
Aldermore Group (ALD) 246.00p -6.21%
Petra Diamonds Ltd.(DI) (PDL) 57.00p -5.39%
Zoopla Property Group (WI) (ZPLA) 214.60p -4.62%
Jimmy Choo (CHOO) 143.50p -4.33%
Countrywide (CWD) 384.00p -3.93%
Amec Foster Wheeler (AMFW) 464.30p -3.11%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 143.20p -2.45%
Polymetal International (POLY) 556.50p -2.37%
Premier Oil (PMO) 74.35p -2.17%