FTSE 250 movers: Miners in favour; Mobico on the skids again

FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,739.87 -0.73%

Mining and oil stocks were performing well on Tuesday in London, with Hochschild and Endeavour Mining in the black among the top performers on the FTSE 250 as commodity prices gained.

Brent crude in particular was up 1.6% at $88.85 a barrel on the back of hopes of increased demand from China and the US, along with concerns that ongoing geopolitical tensions in the Middle East could potentially impact oil supply. Gold meanwhile was rising further after hitting a new record high of $2,265.49 an ounce on Monday.

Ithaca Energy shares failed to join the party, and were down 5% on the day. The company last week said it was looking at a potential tie-up with Italy's largest energy firm Eni covering its UK upstream assets and reported a slump in annual profits blaming the British government’s energy tax and project impairments.

Shares in National Express owner Mobico continued to fall a week after the transport company issued a profit warning and said its annual results would be delayed further due to auditing issues at its German rail business.

Adjusted earnings before interest and tax are now expected to be at the upper end of a £160m - £175m range, compared with previous guidance of £175m - £185m, the company said at the time.

The company, which last month said it needed to review “accounting judgments” relating to its regional trains operations in Germany, had hoped to publish results at the end of March, but pushed the expected date to "the second half of April".

At the time it said it expected charges on two rail contracts to rise by between £40m - £70m more than previously forecast.

On Monday the group said the German statistics office had "recently and unexpectedly published restated and rebased versions" of two indices to calculate and agree the recovery of energy costs from relevant passenger transit authorities.

"The group has made an initial assessment of the implications of the revised indices. Whilst it is the group's expectation that the models used to calculate the profitability of the German rail business remain valid, further work is now required to determine the full effect of the revised indices," Mobico said in a statement.

"However, it is unlikely that those points will be resolved before the group intends to publish its 2023 results. At this stage the group currently estimates that the maximum effect of the revised indices, before any mitigation, is a reduction in total cost recovery over the term of the contracts (to 2032) of around £15m."

FTSE 250 - Risers

Endeavour Mining (EDV) 1,657.00p 2.98%
North Atlantic Smaller Companies Inv Trust (NAS) 3,700.00p 2.78%
TI Fluid Systems (TIFS) 147.80p 2.64%
Dr. Martens (DOCS) 89.95p 2.51%
BlackRock World Mining Trust (BRWM) 529.00p 2.32%
Bakkavor Group (BAKK) 110.50p 2.31%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 130.20p 2.20%
Kainos Group (KNOS) 986.00p 2.12%
Petershill Partners (PHLL) 193.00p 2.01%
Darktrace (DARK) 444.90p 1.85%