FTSE 250 movers: RHI Magnesita surges on Rhone stake offer; Dr Martens out of step

RHI Magnesita surged on Tuesday after Ignite Luxembourg Holdings, which is indirectly managed by Rhone Holdings, offered to buy a 20% stake in the company at 2,850p per share in cash.

The offer, which represents a 39% premium to the closing share price on Friday, values the group at £1.38bn.

Rhone said it will seek representation on the RHI Magnesita board.

In a very brief statement, RHI said: "The board is considering its response to the partial offer and a further announcement will be made in due course."

RHI Magnesita is a supplier of refractory products, systems and services to the steel, cement, non-ferrous metals and glass industries.

Shares in Hunting surged on Tuesday as the international energy services group lifted guidance for 2023 after winning a new contract worth up to £91m with Cairn Oil and Gas, Vedanta.

The company on Tuesday said it expected full-year core earnings to be in the range of $92-$94m, a further increase to the guidance issued at its 2022 results in March. Shares were up 14% in London trade.

With the latest deal, Hunting's sales order book now is $575m, “which represents a material increase since the year-end”, it added.

The new contract will see Hunting supply Oil Country Tubular Goods (OCTG) for Cairn’s operations in Rajasthan, India over three years at around 100 wells.

“This order, again, breaks Hunting's record for the largest single order received for the Group's OCTG and premium connections and supports management's belief that international market sentiment remains extremely strong as governments and countries address the challenges of energy security, the development of domestic supply and post-Covid economic recovery,” said chief executive Jim Johnson.

RBC Capital Markets downgraded shares of iconic bootmaker Dr Martens on Tuesday to ‘sector perform’ from ‘outperform’ and slashed the price target to 180p from 230p as it said FY24 guidance may prove too optimistic.

"Whilst we view the longer-term growth potential for DOCS as attractive, we are mindful of nearer term challenges particularly for the US market (37% revenues), which do not appear to be adequately reflected in company FY24E revenue guidance or consensus," it said.

"Share price performance and our DOCS call has not been the best up to now, and for a variety of reasons (de-rating, UK exposure, US DC execution) however we see the potential for further deceleration/earnings downside," RBC added.

The bank said it was lowering estimates by 8%/9% for FY24E revenue/earnings per share and sits 8%/4% below consensus.