FTSE 250 movers: Earnings downgrades weigh on London's midcaps

Morgan Advanced Materials tumbled after the carbon products and ceramic manufacturer warned its full year earnings will be at the low end of expectations due to a challenging market environment. The group said trading conditions have weakened in the second half of 2015, with sluggish demand in China and North America affecting the group’s overall order book, which was 5.3% lower year-on-year at the end of October compared with the 5.7% increase at the end of June.

Hospital group Spire Healthcare was also under pressure as it cut its full year revenue guidance, noting that revenues from NHS Local contracts continued to decline in the four months to the end of October. The company said it now expects full year revenues to show growth of 3% to 3.7%, or between £882m and £888m, down from previous guidance of 4% to 6% or £890m to £907m.

Car parts and bicycle retailer Halfords fell as it said interim pre-tax profit fell 6.3% to £49.6m as a poor summer deflated bike sales in July and August. Group like-for-like sales rose 1.7% to £533.5m but missed expectations of a 3% jump. New chief executive Jill McDonald said the company was implementing a new strategy called “moving up a gear” which will see the firm invest in collecting customer data and analytics.

IMI slumped after the engineering company said it expects adjusted earnings for the year to be towards the lower end of the range of current market estimates amid challenging market conditions. IMI said that based on the performance in the year to date and current market conditions, organic revenues and margins in the second half will improve compared to the first. However, both organic revenues and margins for the full year will be lower than last year with adjusted earnings per share towards the lower end of the range of current consensus.

Premier Oil slid after saying it was cutting full year capital expenditure to cope with a lower price environment that is hitting revenues across the sector, with further cuts expected next year. In a trading update, Premier said production averaged 57,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day (bpd) to the end of October, down from 64,000 bpd last year but in line with expectations and ahead of full year guidance of 57,000 bpd.

Firstgroup bucked the trend after its interim results met market expectations and the company stuck to its outlook. The bus and train operator posted a 33% drop in first-half pre-tax profit as revenue fell due to the loss of certain rail franchises and a later than normal start to this school year for US students. For the six months to the end of September, adjusted pre-tax profit came in at £22.4m from £33.3m in the same period last year, on revenue of £2.44bn, down 17%.

WS Atkins gained ground after reporting a jump in first half pre-tax profit as revenue increased thanks in part to an improvement in the UK and Europe. For the six months to the end of September, pre-tax profit rose 38% to £53.8m on revenue of £904.6m, up 8.8% from the same period last year. The design, engineering and project management consultancy said it saw a significant improvement in the UK and Europe and a strong performance in the Middle East.

FTSE 250 - Risers

FirstGroup (FGP) 100.90p 3.54%
Moneysupermarket.com Group (MONY) 332.60p 3.20%
Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 1,872.00p 2.30%
esure Group (ESUR) 250.40p 1.83%
DCC (DCC) 5,855.00p 1.65%
Atkins (WS) (ATK) 1,383.00p 1.54%
Petra Diamonds Ltd.(DI) (PDL) 61.90p 1.48%
Millennium & Copthorne Hotels (MLC) 478.00p 1.38%
Fidessa Group (FDSA) 1,962.00p 1.29%
Playtech (PTEC) 878.00p 1.27%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Morgan Advanced Materials (MGAM) 233.10p -12.76%
Spire Healthcare Group (SPI) 314.30p -12.57%
Halfords Group (HFD) 389.60p -9.40%
IMI (IMI) 901.00p -7.64%
Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 80.95p -7.59%
Shawbrook Group (SHAW) 333.90p -7.51%
Senior (SNR) 219.10p -7.16%
Spectris (SXS) 1,660.00p -5.95%
Premier Oil (PMO) 67.85p -5.83%
Rotork (ROR) 175.50p -5.34%