FTSE 250 movers: Restaurant Group gains on update; Petrofac slumps again

London's FTSE 250 was up 0.2% to 20,012.52 in afternoon trade, breaching the 20,000 mark for the first time ever.

Restaurant Group advanced as it said first-quarter sales improved significantly from the end of last year, although they are still in decline. For the 20 weeks from the end of January, like-for-like sales fell 1.8%, with total sales down 1.5%. This compares to the 3.9% LFL drop last year and a 5.9% collapse in the fourth quarter.

The stock was also boosted by an upgrade to 'overweight' from 'neutral' at JPMorgan Cazenove, which said it now sees upside to the share price. The shares have lost 17% since 10 March and the stock is now trading at 6.7x FY2018 EV/EBITDA, which appears too cheap. JPM said the group "has had a better start to 2017 than many in the market may have expected".

Spirax-Sarco Engineering rallied as it announced an agreement to buy US-based electrical products provider Chromalox from Irving Place Capital for a cash-free, debt-free consideration of $415m (£319m).

Wizz Air flew higher for the second day running after the Central and Eastern European-focused airline reported a record profit for the year to the end of March on Thursday.

On the downside, Petrofac continued to slump as RBC Capital Markets downgraded the stock to 'underperform' from 'sector perform', saying the SFO investigation further impedes the company's ability to win contracts.

Britvic was weaker after PepsiCo said on Thursday that it planned to sell its long-held 4.5% stake in the soft drinks company, while Tate & Lyle fell on the back of a Redburn note.

Risers

Restaurant Group (RTN) 346.80p 9.26%
Spirax-Sarco Engineering (SPX) 5,780.00p 8.85%
Countryside Properties (CSP) 320.40p 5.74%
Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 2,300.00p 4.36%
GVC Holdings (GVC) 815.50p 4.28%
Capita (CPI) 569.00p 4.21%
BTG (BTG) 645.00p 3.20%
Senior (SNR) 237.40p 2.86%
Softcat (SCT) 423.90p 2.69%
B&M European Value Retail S.A. (DI) (BME) 369.40p 2.33%

Fallers

Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 390.40p -9.38%
Britvic (BVIC) 697.50p -3.53%
Tate & Lyle (TATE) 728.00p -2.80%
Intermediate Capital Group (ICP) 895.00p -2.72%
ZPG Plc (ZPG) 364.80p -2.54%
Hunting (HTG) 536.50p -2.19%
Evraz (EVR) 194.90p -2.06%
OneSavings Bank (OSB) 428.10p -1.83%
Henderson Group (HGG) 230.60p -1.79%
Crest Nicholson Holdings (CRST) 621.00p -1.74%