FTSE 250 movers: Provident Financial dives while Spirent storms

London’s FTSE 250 was down 0.21% at 18,378.89 in afternoon trade on Tuesday, led by a drop from Provident Financial on a disappointing year-end update.

The sub-prime lender was the worst performer on the FTSE 250, dropping over 20% as it warned that full-year profits would be towards the lower end of market expectations due to "modestly higher than expected" impairments, sending fellow lender Amigo Holdings lower in the process.

A note from Shore Capital, said: "We upgraded Provident to 'buy' in October at 547p since when the shares have performed relatively well. However, today’s news is another severe kick in the teeth for the investment case and is likely to see the shares fall sharply."

"We place our recommendation under review pending the shares price settling down, but at this stage out inkling is that that the shares would need to be trading closer to 500p for us to maintain a positive stance."

Online gaming specialist 888 Holdings and bookmaker William Hill were both weaker after the US Department of Justice called for wider restrictions on all online gambling.

Real estate advisor Savills was in the red after reporting that underlying results for the past calendar year should be in line with the board's expectations, but adding that transaction volumes are expected to drop in a number of markets amid Brexit uncertainty.

Capita dropped after its chief executive told MPs that the outsourcing company will lose "a considerable sum of money" on its Ministry of Defence contract to recruit soldiers into the British Army.

Telecommunications testing company Spirent Communications surged as the communications technology company said it expects to deliver a 30% year-on-year rise in adjusted operating profit to between $75m and $77m, exceeding market expectations.

Recruiter Hays rallied as it reported 8% growth in second-quarter net fees, driven by 11% growth in its international businesses, while Premier Oil recovered from the recent decline on the back of press reports that it was looking to drum up cash for a near-$1.5bn acquisition of Chevron assets.

Market Movers

FTSE 250 (MCX) 18,378.89 -0.21%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Spirent Communications (SPT) 143.00p 14.22%
Halfords Group (HFD) 229.60p 5.03%
Ibstock (IBST) 233.60p 3.64%
Indivior (INDV) 123.90p 2.78%
Hays (HAS) 145.30p 2.61%
Rank Group (RNK) 158.20p 2.59%
Premier Oil (PMO) 71.92p 2.38%
Cobham (COB) 106.30p 2.26%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 210.70p 2.23%
Dechra Pharmaceuticals (DPH) 2,394.00p 2.22%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Provident Financial (PFG) 507.00p -21.64%
888 Holdings (888) 164.70p -7.32%
Savills (SVS) 719.00p -5.95%
Capita (CPI) 113.00p -5.60%
Just Group (JUST) 95.45p -4.36%
Sanne Group (SNN) 513.00p -4.11%
William Hill (WMH) 162.70p -3.47%
Ascential (ASCL) 390.60p -3.41%
Amigo Holdings (AMGO) 261.65p -3.40%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 117.55p -3.13%