FTSE 250 movers: NCC in favour; Tate & Lyle not so sweet

FTSE 250 (MCX) 20,472.12 0.45%

Energean said it had signed a deal to sell its portfolio in Egypt, Italy and Croatia to Carlyle Group for an enterprise value of up to $945m, with the private equity firm setting up a separate company to be chaired by former BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward.

The gas explorer and producer said it planned to use the cash to repay a $450m corporate bond and pay out a $200m special dividend.

“This sale enables Energean to rationalise the portfolio and focus on its gas-weighted, gas-development strategy, underpinned by the Karish Field in Israel and recent farm-in to the Anchois field in Morocco,” the company said on Thursday.

Carlyle International Energy Partners, the fund's non-US energy investment arm, said it would set up the new company to look for more acquisitions in the Mediterranean. It will also hold recently acquired assets from Neptune Energy, Assala Energy and SierraCol.

CMC Markets posted a better-than-expected surge in annual profits on Thursday, boosted by a strong performance across both its retail and institutional divisions.

The online trading platform said net operating income rose 15% in the year to 31 March to £332.8m, a record high outside of the pandemic. Within that, trading net revenue rose 11% to £259.1m, helping to offset a 10% slide in investment net revenues to £34m.

CMC said trading revenues had benefited from a strong performance in both the retail and institutional segments of the business, as well as a bumper second half.

NCC Group said on Thursday that cyber security revenues had returned to growth, helping annual operating profits come in ahead of expectations.

Updating on trading, NCC said cyber security revenues had risen by around 6% on a constant currency basis in the second half, following a 9.4% slide in the first.

Food and beverage products group Tate & Lyle is to buy Atlanta-based pectin, gums and specialty ingredients firm CP Kelco from JM Huber Corporation for $1.8bn, giving the latter a 16% stake in the business. Shares fell 9% as the stock went ex-dividend.

Berenberg downgraded its stance on shares of Upper Crust owner SSP to ‘hold’ from ‘buy’ on Thursday and cut the price target to 180p from 280p as it said first-half results outlined earnings risks.

"We are fans of the global travel concession market and believe that the structural growth drivers in the industry will support the growth of SSP into the medium term," the bank said.

"That said, we think the majority of the group’s growth will now stem from North America and the rest of the world (RoW - i.e. Asia-Pacific, eastern Europe and the Middle East), where the business has significant minority interests.

"Given the potential headwinds to the UK&I (UK & Ireland) rail business, we believe that there are risks to earnings generation over the medium term, with a greater share of SSP’s profitability generated in regions with high minority interests."

Market Movers

FTSE 250 - Risers

CMC Markets (CMCX) 305.50p 8.72%
NCC Group (NCC) 154.40p 7.37%
Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings (AML) 151.40p 5.58%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 185.60p 4.50%
Harbour Energy (HBR) 314.00p 4.35%
Energean (ENOG) 1,072.00p 3.88%
Foresight Group Holdings Limited NPV (FSG) 471.00p 3.74%
Bank of Georgia Group (BGEO) 3,955.00p 3.67%
Diversified Energy Company (DEC) 1,136.00p 3.37%
Games Workshop Group (GAW) 10,630.00p 3.20%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Tate & Lyle (TATE) 612.50p -9.53%
SSP Group (SSPG) 150.20p -6.13%
Fidelity China Special Situations (FCSS) 212.00p -3.20%
Spectris (SXS) 2,934.00p -3.04%
Telecom Plus (TEP) 1,802.00p -2.91%
Future (FUTR) 1,007.00p -2.42%
W.A.G Payment Solutions (WPS) 66.00p -2.37%
Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 2,306.00p -1.79%
British Land Company (BLND) 417.40p -1.60%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,137.00p -1.39%