FTSE 250 movers: Computacenter jumps on Amazon partnership; Victrex melts away

London's FTSE 250 was steady at 18,675.86 in afternoon trade on Wednesday, with Computacenter on the rise on the back of a new partnership with Amazon.

IT services outfit Computacenter was the top riser after it was chosen by Amazon Web Services (AWS) to be an official partner of its Well-Architected Framework, a scheme designed to help users build a secure, high-performance and efficient infrastructure for their applications.

Partners in the scheme help customers establish good architectural habits, eliminate risk, and respond faster to changes that affect designs, applications, and workloads.

UDG Healthcare was in the green following heavy losses earlier in the week after the release of its preliminary results, while TalkTalk climbed after chairman Charles Dunstone purchased 307,085 ordinary shares in the telecoms provider a day earlier.

On the Beach made gains after the online travel agent delivered final results ahead of market expectations, as it reined in marketing spending after the summer heatwave put Brits and Scandinavians off overseas holidays.

Polymer specialist Victrex was the top faller as Barclays cut its price target to 2,320p from 2,380p.

Cranswick was in the red again after reporting on Tuesday that an uncertain UK market and softer pricing conditions in key Far Eastern export markets had led to a fall in first half pre-tax profits at the supermarket food supplier.

Thomas Cook retreated again after a downgrade to 'equalweight' at Morgan Stanley following another profit warning a day earlier. The investment bank suspended its price target as its analysts expressed scepticism that the summer's warm weather, World Cup and flight disruption could be continuing to harm profit.

"We see risk that the rapid deterioration in the fourth quarter may not be only due to the heatwave - that Brexit concerns could cause another late booking year, and that underlying free cash flow generation may be weaker than it appears," said MS.

Aerospace parts maker Senior was on the back foot despite saying that trading in the year to end-October had been in line with expectations as production of new model large commercial airliners ramped up, while wealth manager Brewin Dolphin dropped even as it posted a rise in full-year profit as total funds increased amid positive net inflows.

Construction group Kier and housebuilder Galliford Try were both weaker as the government admitted that the UK economy will take a big hit under any Brexit scenario.

Market Movers

FTSE 250 (MCX) 18,663.48 0.01%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Computacenter (CCC) 1,110.00p 5.11%
UDG Healthcare Public Limited Company (UDG) 625.00p 4.87%
TalkTalk Telecom Group (TALK) 132.38p 4.65%
Rank Group (RNK) 159.80p 3.77%
On The Beach Group (OTB) 416.00p 3.48%
Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 544.58p 3.06%
Spectris (SXS) 2,441.00p 3.04%
QinetiQ Group (QQ.) 292.50p 3.03%
Dixons Carphone (DC.) 163.75p 2.86%
Indivior (INDV) 98.40p 2.76%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Victrex plc (VCT) 2,424.00p -4.34%
Cranswick (CWK) 2,754.00p -4.18%
Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 36.04p -4.05%
Senior (SNR) 247.00p -3.74%
Brewin Dolphin Holdings (BRW) 320.60p -3.61%
Premier Oil (PMO) 68.05p -3.20%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 99.70p -3.16%
Kier Group (KIE) 753.77p -3.13%
Galliford Try (GFRD) 757.00p -2.89%
Keller Group (KLR) 619.00p -2.83%