FTSE 250 movers: Paragon surges on acquisition; DS Smith drops on downgrade

Paragon Group of Companies put in a stellar performance after announcing the acquisition of Five Arrows Leasing Group through its subsidiary Paragon Bank for £117m. The deal is part of the bank’s strategy to provide diversification of funding sources and income streams for the group which started in 2014.

In the year to 31 March 2015, Five Arrows Leasing made a pre-tax profit of £10.2m and profit after tax of £8.1m and had assets of £245.1m.

Shares in Synergy Health were on the up after it announced that it has reached an agreement on the terms of a recommended combination with Steris Corp. Earlier in the day, Synergy, which is a sterilisation services provider, had said that US antitrust enforcers had decided not to appeal a district court ruling that refused to block the $1.9bn deal.

Irish food group Greencore rallied after Peel Hunt lifted the stock to ‘add’ from ‘hold’.

Packaging company DS Smith was under pressure after Jefferies downgraded the stock to ‘hold’ from ‘buy’ following recent outperformance, as it took a look at the paper and packaging sector.

Electrocomponents also slipped after the company said revenue growth slowed in the second quarter amid ongoing weakness in the UK and deteriorating conditions in the US market. Overall revenue growth dropped to 3% from 5% in the first quarter, with revenue stateside down 3% due to weakening US manufacturing output.

Risers

Nostrum Oil & Gas (NOG) 513.00p +10.56%

Paragon Group Of Companies (PAG) 433.30p +9.75%

Synergy Health (SYR) 2,265.00p +5.84%

Ocado Group (OCDO) 334.60p +5.52%

Greencore Group (GNC) 292.50p +4.69%

Evraz (EVR) 78.00p +3.65%

Morgan Advanced Materials (MGAM) 291.10p +3.19%

AL Noor Hospitals Group (ANH) 860.50p +3.05%

Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 980.50p +2.99%

Petra Diamonds Ltd.(DI) (PDL) 84.20p +2.93%

Fallers

OneSavings Bank (OSB) 360.60p -5.48%

Telecom Plus (TEP) 1,073.00p -3.68%

Smith (DS) (SMDS) 369.60p -3.50%

CLS Holdings (CLI) 1,847.00p -3.40%

Card Factory (CARD) 382.50p -3.38%

Electrocomponents (ECM) 174.80p -2.83%

Crest Nicholson Holdings (CRST) 557.00p -2.79%

Allied Minds (ALM) 360.00p -2.47%

Circassia Pharmaceuticals (CIR) 292.00p -2.34%

Greggs (GRG) 1,057.00p -2.22%