FTSE 250 movers: Halfords speeds ahead; Tullow Oil slips

The FTSE 250 index fell 0.53% to 18,215.93 in the late afternoon.

Halfords surged on Thursday as it announced the payment of a special dividend following strong sales over the retailer’s key Christmas quarter and said it has bought a minority stake in mobile tyre fitting company TyresOnTheDrive.com.

N Brown advanced as it made strides over the festive period, with revenue growth accelerating at the specialist-fit clothing retailer in its third quarter. The FTSE 250 group, which is being revamped by chief executive Angela Spindler, grew revenue 4.1% in the 18 weeks to 31 December, up from the 2.1% in the 13-week second quarter and 1% across the first half as a whole.

Price comparison website Moneysupermarket.com gained as it announced that it expects revenue to increase 12% for the year, aided by 20% growth in the final quarter of 2016. The FTSE 250 company expects revenue to grow 12% to £316m and adjusted operating profit by 8% to about £108m, for the year ended 31 December.

Mitie recovered after losses in the previous session when it warned earnings will be below forecasts as the beleaguered facilities management firm battles with client deferrals, delayed investment plans and an underperforming cleaning division.

Security services company G4S got a boost after Barclays upped its stance on the stock to ‘equalweight’ from ‘underweight’ and hiked the price target to 260p from 160p. The bank said it reckons this year will see a combination of high organic growth, cost savings and balance sheet deleveraging.

Pets at Home was under the cosh despite positive results. The group posted a rise in revenue for the third quarter as it said the profit outlook for the year remains in line with expectations.

Hochschild came off earlier highs after it upped its production guidance for 2017 after the gold and silver miner unearthed more than it had predicted last year.

Acacia Mining sank despite delivering strong fourth quarter gold production, which resulted in forecast-beating full year production at its Tanzania mine with costs towards the bottom of expectations.

Tullow Oil tanked on Thursday after HSBC downgraded the stock to ‘hold’ from ‘buy’ but lifted the target price to 320p from 270p, saying the shares offer “limited upside”. The oil exploration and production company’s shares have risen 19% since OPEC announced output cuts in late November and are up 147% in the last 12 months.

Workspace was in the red despite recording a rise in total rent roll in the third quarter as occupancy nudged higher amid ongoing customer demand in London. In the quarter to 31 December, total rent roll was up 2.5% to £86.9m and up 11.1% over the nine months from the end of March 2016.

Rightmove was under pressure as Citibank downgraded its stock to ‘sell’ from ‘neutral’ and set the price target to £37.70. “Lack of growth or re-rating potential leaves us sellers- our view of minimal scope for upgrades/growth coupled with the risk to the multiple drives our cautious stance,” the bank said.

Risers

Halfords Group (HFD) 384.80p 8.95%
Brown (N.) Group (BWNG) 217.20p 6.89%
Moneysupermarket.com Group (MONY) 319.70p 5.51%
Mitie Group (MTO) 204.20p 4.29%
Spirax-Sarco Engineering (SPX) 4,368.00p 2.56%
G4S (GFS) 250.90p 2.41%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 135.40p 2.19%
Beazley (BEZ) 400.70p 2.01%
CLS Holdings (CLI) 1,621.00p 1.82%
Keller Group (KLR) 844.00p 1.56%

Fallers

Pets at Home Group (PETS) 216.80p -8.95%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 222.60p -7.79%
Card Factory (CARD) 233.90p -5.95%
Great Portland Estates (GPOR) 613.50p -3.54%
Acacia Mining (ACA) 416.90p -3.52%
Rightmove (RMV) 4,000.00p -2.94%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 303.40p -2.79%
LondonMetric Property (LMP) 146.90p -2.59%
Workspace Group (WKP) 754.00p -2.58%
Derwent London (DLN) 2,517.00p -2.56%