FTSE 250 movers: Sirius soars, Equiniti slides

London's FTSE 250 was up 0.25% at 19,141.34 in afternoon trade on Tuesday, as Sirius Minerals leapt upward after receiving a funding proposal.

The fertilizer development company racked up strong gains after saying it has received a conditional proposal from a "major global financial institution" in respect of the financing that would fund its Yorkshire polyhalite mine through to production.

Analysts from house broker Shore Capital said: "All things considered, while Sirius is currently at development stage and still some years from becoming a cash flow-generating company, we believe that an investment in Sirius should become progressively de-risked and enjoy significant value uplift as it advances towards production."

Computacenter followed close behind after it posted a jump in full-year profit as revenue exceeded £4bn for the first time, with strong growth in the UK and Germany.

Shipping services group Clarkson was buoyant after JPMorgan upped its recommendation on the stock following full-year results a day earlier, while CYBG climbed after Goldman analysts hiked their price target for the stock from 235p to 260p

Maiden results from Quilter after its spin-out from Old Mutual late last year sent the shares climbing. The UK wealth manager reported an 11% improvement in its adjusted profit and recommended a final dividend of 3.3p per share.

There were also well-received results for online gaming group 888 Holdings, which reported a strong improvement in annual profits despite UK regulatory pressures hitting revenue, and said "positive momentum" had continued into 2019.

On the downside, financial services outsourcer Equiniti slid despite a set of final results that landed in line with expectations. Liberum analysts expressed disappointment over the three-month delay to the operational separation of EQ US from Wells Fargo and lowered their target price from 320p to 290p.

Healthcare firm Syncona dropped as it announced plans to focus its investment strategy more towards conservative investments like cash and bonds moving forward, while Cairn Energy was weaker as the oil and gas exploration and development company said it swung to a net loss in 2018.

Finally, Charter Court Financial Services and OneSavings Bank settled back down, having risen during Monday's session after confirming that they are in advanced talks about a potential merger to create a “leading specialist mortgage lender in the UK”.

Market Movers

FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,141.34 0.25%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Sirius Minerals (SXX) 19.68p 9.64%
Computacenter (CCC) 1,182.00p 6.10%
Clarkson (CKN) 2,390.00p 5.52%
Quilter (QLT) 138.76p 5.07%
Pagegroup (PAGE) 473.40p 3.32%
888 Holdings (888) 167.50p 3.01%
TalkTalk Telecom Group (TALK) 102.80p 2.80%
TP ICAP (TCAP) 296.50p 2.67%
CYBG (CYBG) 202.20p 2.59%
Dixons Carphone (DC.) 132.00p 2.52%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Equiniti Group (EQN) 190.42p -6.20%
OneSavings Bank (OSB) 392.60p -4.34%
Amigo Holdings (AMGO) 200.75p -3.67%
Syncona Limited NPV (SYNC) 253.50p -3.43%
Charter Court Financial Services Group (CCFS) 329.40p -3.29%
Contour Global (GLO) 170.80p -3.17%
Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings (AML) 1,127.48p -2.92%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 169.70p -2.86%
Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 1,200.00p -2.76%
Woodford Patient Capital Trust (WPCT) 80.00p -2.32%