FTSE 250 movers: Rotork slides as property outfits boosted by Brexit progress

London's FTSE 250 was down 0.21% at 18,545.15 in afternoon trade on Thursday, as Rotork's drop in order intake proved costly.

Rotork suffered heavy losses as it reported a 4% drop in third-quarter order intake but said expectations for the full year were unchanged.

The liquid flow-control engineering specialist said orders were down 2% on an organic constant currency basis due to a 17.6% decline in the Fluid Systems unit and a fall of 1.3% in Control, which was said to reflect the variation in the timing of project orders and deliveries compared with last year.

CYBG entered a third day of losses after the Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank owner on Tuesday reported a 13% increase in underlying profits 13% in the past 12 months but said it fell into a loss at the statutory level due to PPI costs.

Geotechnical engineer Keller Group dropped after it said it would take a restructuring charge of £57m, cut 700 jobs and exit its heavy foundations business in Singapore and Malaysia a month after issuing a profit warning.

Meanwhile, Spirax-Sarco fell after it was downgraded to ‘equalweight’ by Morgan Stanley and had its target price cut to 6,260p over concerns over the company and fellow capital goods sector player Halma.

"While acknowledging Halma and Spirax remain two of UK engineering's top franchises, we view current valuations as unpalatable with absolute and relative multiples near 14-year highs, and downgrade both to equal-weight,” MS said.

Bank of Georgia Group stumbled even as it reported continued “outstanding” profitability and “solid” balance sheet growth momentum in its third quarter results, with revenue rising 19.4% to GEL 266.61m (£77.85m).

Hill & Smith was on the rise as it posted a jump in revenue for the period from 1 July to 31 October and said full-year 2018 results should be in line with market expectations.

IP Group and Countryside Properties rallied on reports that UK and European Union negotiators have agreed a draft text of post-Brexit ties.

Equiniti rallied as the technology and payments specialist said 2018 results are likely to be at the upper end of market expectations following "encouraging" organic revenue momentum into the second half, with continuing revenue tailwinds.

Finally, 3i Infrastructure, B&M European Value Retail, Edinburgh Dragon Trust, Genesis Emerging Markets Fund, Great Portland Estates, HICL Infrastructure Co, JPMorgan Japanese Investment Trust, Tate & Lyle, Witan Investment Trust and Worldwide Healthcare Trust all went ex-dividend.

Market Movers

FTSE 250 (MCX) 18,545.15 -0.21%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Hill & Smith Holdings (HILS) 1,174.50p 4.87%
IP Group (IPO) 117.40p 4.26%
Brewin Dolphin Holdings (BRW) 334.14p 4.09%
TI Fluid Systems (TIFS) 196.30p 4.08%
Equiniti Group (EQN) 227.00p 3.18%
BCA Marketplace (BCA) 220.50p 3.04%
SSP Group (SSPG) 646.10p 2.96%
Provident Financial (PFG) 599.80p 2.95%
Countryside Properties (CSP) 290.00p 2.84%
Stobart Group Ltd. (STOB) 198.80p 2.69%