FTSE 250 movers: Equiniti rallies but Inchcape hit by downgrade

London's FTSE 250 was up 0.3% to 20,839.65 in afternoon trade on Friday as investors sifted through more earnings and digested the release of second-quarter US GDP.

Equiniti was the standout gainer after the provider of corporate governance and shareholder administration services said it expects full-year earnings to be towards the top end of market expectations. The company also published its strongest reporting period yet for the first half of 2018, with double-digit revenue and underlying EBITDA growth, ahead of expectations.

Sophos was under the cosh as it reported that its cash EBITDA for the first quarter fell 26% to $20.3m, as group billings saw their momentum falter.

Car dealership Inchcape was under the cosh as HSBC downgraded the stock to 'hold' from 'buy'.

The bank said that despite a resilient first half, sector headwinds limit upgrade potential.

"Looking forward we believe that the headwinds facing the group are now more numerous including continued weak trading in the UK, slowdown in Australia retail, the new car cycle turning negative in Singapore on a multi-year basis and political disruption in Ethiopia. This combined with continued negative foreign exchange rates in the second half leads us to conclude that the balance of risk to earnings is to the downside."

Jupiter Fund Management was in the red as the company's first-half net flows were slightly weaker than expected. The group also said assets under management declined 4% to £48.2bn after money was pulled from a single fixed income strategy product.

FTSE 250 - Risers

Equiniti Group (EQN) 236.00p 13.46%
Cobham (COB) 123.25p 3.92%
Sophos Group (SOPH) 488.00p 3.83%
Greencore Group (GNC) 187.40p 3.14%
Renishaw (RSW) 5,695.00p 2.80%
Inmarsat (ISAT) 564.60p 2.65%
RHI Magnesita N.V. (DI) (RHIM) 4,922.00p 2.50%
Softcat (SCT) 822.00p 2.49%
Provident Financial (PFG) 631.64p 2.44%
Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 601.40p 2.17%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Inchcape (INCH) 735.50p -6.13%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 116.20p -4.28%
Jupiter Fund Management (JUP) 426.00p -3.79%
Britvic (BVIC) 800.25p -3.58%
Stagecoach Group (SGC) 162.90p -2.57%
FDM Group (Holdings) (FDM) 940.00p -2.19%
888 Holdings (888) 242.60p -2.18%
Sanne Group (SNN) 709.00p -1.66%
Contour Global (GLO) 240.00p -1.64%
Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 87.20p -1.64%