FTSE 250 movers: Ocado and Restaurant Group make gains

By later afternoon the FTSE 250 was up 0.18% to 16,716.83, rallying again after solid gains in the morning had later been erased.

Ocado, often the subject of hazy rumours about potential takeovers and other nebulous deals, was the top riser without any obvious catalyst.

A bullish note from Bloomberg Intelligence on the recovery in UK food sales was suggested by traders as possibly having had an impact.

Earlier in the session, food sales nudged back into positive territory in the Retail Sales Monitor from the British Retail Consortium and KPMG, rising 0.1% over the 12 months to April.

Restaurant Group was another strong riser, rallying after the share been sold down sharply after issuing three poor trading updates and profit warnings this year - the most recent on 29 April.

Analyst Chris Beachamp of IG said the shares looked "massively oversold" after the latest profit warning which was likely to have led investors to believe the bad news is all factored in.

Among the fallers was N Brown, which was downgraded by Numis to 'hold' from 'add'. The broker said the 2016 results were 'relatively solid' but downgrading numbers seemed to be the "new normal" at N Brown, with forecasts lowered in May 2014, October 2014 and March 2015, and April's prelims heralding a meaningful cut to the new financial year's estimates.

Profit before tax estimates for 2017 have been trimmed 8% to £85m, citing the "undoubtedly challenging" current trading environment and pressures to gross margin from a £3m forex headwind and aged stock clearance.

"We question why the FX headwind has suddenly emerged as a significant factor," said analyst Andrew Wade, who also noted this was adding to the board's "repertoire of downgrade explanations" in recent years.

FTSE 250 - Risers

Ocado Group (OCDO) 287.50p 6.48%
Lookers (LOOK) 137.10p 4.82%
Restaurant Group (RTN) 286.30p 4.57%
Drax Group (DRX) 319.70p 3.50%
Virgin Money Holdings (UK) (VM.) 335.30p 3.46%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 371.10p 3.37%
Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 822.00p 2.75%
Serco Group (SRP) 95.70p 2.63%
Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 153.70p 2.26%
Melrose Industries (MRO) 390.40p 2.25%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Allied Minds (ALM) 318.60p -5.43%
Interserve (IRV) 298.70p -3.71%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 106.00p -3.28%
Shawbrook Group (SHAW) 268.20p -2.86%
Brown (N.) Group (BWNG) 245.60p -2.73%
Capital & Counties Properties (CAPC) 337.50p -2.43%
Circassia Pharmaceuticals (CIR) 265.20p -2.43%
John Laing Infrastructure Fund Ltd (JLIF) 122.10p -2.24%
P2P Global Investments (P2P) 922.00p -1.86%
AA (AA.) 272.50p -1.80%