FTSE 250 movers: Royal Mail rises, Senior slips

London's FTSE 250 climbed 0.12% higher to 19,284.44 in afternoon trade on Thursday, with shares of Royal Mail leading the way higher.

Stock in Greene King fizzed higher as the pub operator's full-year profits came in ahead of expectations, although revenue was a small miss and the current year has started slowly amid poor weather.

Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor, said: "Greene King is clearly being well-managed, with an aspirational strategy to be Britain’s best beer and pub company underpinned by careful financial management. The 14% hike in the share price over the last six months is a sign of progress, although over the last year the shares have given up 12%, as compared to a drop of 8% for the wider FTSE250 index."

Outsourcer Serco followed close behind after reporting that 2019 revenue is expected to be at the top end of its guidance range, thanks in part to strong order intake.

Metro Bank climbed after Investec raised the stock to 'buy', while B&M European Value Retail made gains after analysts at JPMorgan raised their recommendation for the stock from 'neutral' to 'overweight'.

At the other end of the index, Senior was the standout loser after a downgrade to 'equalweight' at Barlcays, with analysts stating that the aerospace engineer has the highest exposure to a "widespread supplier reset" that is set to be the grounding of Boeing's 737 Max jet.

"We also see continued industrial end-market weakness into 2020 from the China/US trade war, tariffs and supplier cost uncertainty," said the note from Barclays.

Oilfield services provider Petrofac slipped as analysts at Berenberg lowered earnings per share estimates for the next three years, cutting the 2021 and 2022 financial years by 6.0% and 13.2% respectively.

Finally, Syncona dropped lower after it agreed to sell its portfolio company Blue Earth Diagnostics to Bracco Imaging for $450m.

Market Movers

FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,284.44 0.12%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Royal Mail (RMG) 210.40p 5.04%
Greene King (GNK) 608.60p 4.93%
Serco Group (SRP) 142.20p 4.71%
Metro Bank (MTRO) 517.00p 4.15%
Stagecoach Group (SGC) 126.00p 4.13%
Vivo Energy (VVO) 132.40p 3.44%
B&M European Value Retail S.A. (DI) (BME) 329.00p 3.36%
Sirius Minerals (SXX) 14.50p 3.20%
National Express Group (NEX) 402.80p 2.81%
Capita (CPI) 103.35p 2.78%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Senior (SNR) 210.67p -8.72%
Plus500 Ltd (DI) (PLUS) 529.80p -7.51%
Dunelm Group (DNLM) 921.50p -3.81%
Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 448.73p -3.54%
Synthomer (SYNT) 363.60p -3.19%
Syncona Limited NPV (SYNC) 216.50p -2.91%
Future (FUTR) 940.00p -2.79%
Drax Group (DRX) 263.00p -2.08%
Provident Financial (PFG) 409.75p -2.07%
Acacia Mining (ACA) 175.70p -2.06%