FTSE 250 movers: CYBG leaps, Royal Mail stamped down

London’s FTSE 250 was up 0.35% at 19,062.95 in afternoon trading on Wednesday, with Clydesdale Bank, Yorkshire Bank and Virgin Money UK-owner CYBG leading the index higher.

The group leapt as it reported "good progress" with the integration of Virgin Money since completing the merger in October, with lending up and margins stronger than expected despite pressure from the highly competitive UK mortgage market.

However, Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said: "While CYBG has improved its margin guidance for 2019, a range of 1.65% to 1.7% is hardly something to be proud of. It leaves it with barely any room for error if bad loans go up."

Ferrexpo also moved upward after Barclays analysts increased their target price from 255p to 280p, also reaffirming its 'overweight' rating of the stock.

Electrocomponents gained as it posted a 6% jump in like-for-like revenue for the four months to 31 January 2019 and Grainger advanced as the residential landlord hailed a good start to the year.

On the downside, Royal Mail was knocked lower by a downgrade from 'hold' to 'sell' at Societe Generale, who also knocked their target price for the stock down from 340p to 235p in a note that argued investors need to see evidence of productivity improvements.

"Driven by steeper mail volume declines, unyielding staff costs and lower GLS margins, we are cutting our adjusted op. profit before transformation costs forecast by 6.5-8% over our forecast range. With a c.£30m yoy decline in group operating profit in FY20e, we see organic FCF dropping further, putting dividends at a high risk of being cut," the note added.

Market Movers

FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,062.95 0.35%

FTSE 250 - Risers

CYBG (CYBG) 203.00p 13.53%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 258.10p 7.86%
Electrocomponents (ECM) 590.20p 6.61%
Superdry (SDRY) 514.77p 6.27%
Grainger (GRI) 239.00p 3.64%
Energean Oil & Gas (ENOG) 646.30p 2.70%
Sanne Group (SNN) 514.00p 2.39%
Games Workshop Group (GAW) 3,035.00p 2.36%
Ted Baker (TED) 1,901.77p 2.36%
Sophos Group (SOPH) 336.00p 2.19%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Royal Mail (RMG) 277.30p -3.14%
Stobart Group Ltd. (STOB) 147.31p -2.18%
Sabre Insurance Group (SBRE) 275.00p -2.14%
Hill & Smith Holdings (HILS) 1,117.00p -2.02%
Greencore Group (GNC) 196.80p -1.89%
Rank Group (RNK) 168.80p -1.86%
Travis Perkins (TPK) 1,223.50p -1.85%
Stagecoach Group (SGC) 153.90p -1.79%
Barr (A.G.) (BAG) 737.00p -1.47%
Dunelm Group (DNLM) 728.50p -1.42%