FTSE 250 movers: Airlines under pressure; Sirius gains after update

London’s FTSE 250 was down 0.6% at 22,108.88 in afternoon trade on Monday.

Airlines were in the red, with easyJet knocked lower by a downgrade to ‘hold’ at HSBC, which put out a note on the sector.

CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson said HSBC argued the new traffic light system for travel will hurt budget airlines’ earnings expectations.

"This shouldn’t have come across as too much of a surprise, given that when the details were released on Friday the logistics of it were only too obvious," he said.

"HSBC also said it expected easyJet might need to raise fresh equity. This is something easyJet has already been doing with the sale of leaseback of 43 of its aircraft already in the last 8 months. It still has another 141 fully owned and unencumbered aircraft, which represents over 40% of its remaining fleet, so it certainly has plenty of room to boost its liquidity."

Online electricals retailer AO World and miniature wargames manufacturer Games Workshop - both of which have done well during lockdowns - were also on the back foot.

Shopping centre owner Hammerson fell after confirming it was in talks with Canadian private equity firm Brookfield on a possible sale of its retail parks. Brookfield is prepared to pay around £350m for seven retail parks, the Sunday Times reported.

On the upside, Sirius Real Estate gained ground after a well-received trading update.

FTSE 250 - Risers

TBC Bank Group (TBCG) 1,104.00p 3.18%
Dunelm Group (DNLM) 1,407.00p 2.48%
Elementis (ELM) 123.00p 2.24%
Babcock International Group (BAB) 238.40p 2.19%
Just Eat Takeaway.Com N.V. (CDI) (JET) 7,371.00p 2.02%
BMO Global Smaller Companies (BGSC) 163.00p 2.00%
Airtel Africa (AAF) 84.40p 1.93%
Sirius Real Estate Ltd. (SRE) 95.50p 1.70%
Ninety One (N91) 251.40p 1.70%
Pennon Group (PNN) 1,032.00p 1.62%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

FirstGroup (FGP) 88.90p -6.03%
AO World (AO.) 310.40p -5.37%
NCC Group (NCC) 271.50p -4.90%
Restaurant Group (RTN) 116.20p -4.60%
TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 371.60p -4.47%
Games Workshop Group (GAW) 10,060.00p -4.19%
easyJet (EZJ) 932.40p -4.15%
Hammerson (HMSO) 35.88p -4.01%
Carnival (CCL) 1,674.40p -3.57%
Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 4,765.00p -3.52%