FTSE 250 movers: Sports Direct scores an own goal, Sirius rejuvenated

London's FTSE 250 was down 0.48% at 20,162.47 in afternoon trade on Tuesday.

High street sports retailer Sports Direct was the afternoon's big faller after the High Court ruled that the company must hand over documents as part of an accounting regulator’s investigation into its 2016 financial results.

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) is probing Grant Thornton after one of its employees failed to disclose a business relationship between Mike Ashley and his brother as well as investigating the conduct of a further Sports Direct employee in a separate investigation.

Judge Richard Arnold also noted that the assessment by FRC lawyers that Sports Direct's legal team are approaching the case with an attitude "obfuscation and delay verging on obstruction" was "justified".

Sports Direct put out a statement stressing that "is NOT the subject" of the investigation but is rather "a witness", noting that it has "obtained leave to appeal certain aspects of the judgement from the judge, and intends to appeal additional aspects of the judgement in due course".

The news comes as the company's billionaire owner Mike Ashley is immersed in the potential restructuring of department store chain Debenhams, in which he now holds a stake.

Oil producer Cairn Energy was also in the red as it reported first-half pre-tax losses of £383m, with the company reporting oil sales revenue of $172m at an average realised price of $66.97 per barrel, or $67.81 before hedging costs.

Combined net production from the Catcher and Kraken fields of around 14,000 barrels per day which is substantially lower than previous company guidance of 17,000-to-20,000 barrels.

However, in June production averaged at 19,700 boepd as production issues appear to be resolved.

Specialty chemicals group Elementis slumped even though it cut the up-front price of its acquisition of industrial talc group Mondo Minerals by $100m after the deal was poorly received by investors.

Numis reiterated its 'buy' rating for shares in the company, giving a target price of 340p, while Credit Suisse said the new price was “the tipping point for the deal becoming value accretive”. The FT cited traders' broader concerns that Elementis was diluting its growth prospects by moving into talc.

Leading the risers was Sirius Minerals, recovering after dropping sharply last week following the revelation that the fertiliser development company needs between $400m and $600m extra in order to build its mine in the North York Moors.

Hilton Food was in the green as it posted a jump in interim profit and revenue, boosted by the first full inclusion of the Seachill business, recovery of the business in Central Europe and further strategic progress in Australia.

Hilton said it continues to explore further opportunities for expansion and is "well placed" to capture those opportunities as they arise.

Shore Capital reiterated its 'buy' rating for shares in the company with a target price of 940p, citing the company's "excellent" results and "strong growth reported across all key metrics".

Premier Oil also enjoyed a solid afternoon of trading following broker rumblings after the company's shares were upgraded to a ‘buy’ rating from ‘hold’ at Investec.

Retailer JD Sports Fashion ticked higher as it posted a rise in interim pre-tax profit and revenue despite a "challenging" backdrop.

The company enjoyed a pre-tax profit increase of 19% to £121.9m and a revenue rise of 35% to £1.85bn after a net increase of 18 stores across mainland Europe and an increase of 21 in the Asia Pacific region, including first stores in South Korea and Singapore and additional stores in Malaysia and Australia.

Sanne Group, the provider of alternative asset and corporate administration services, advanced as it lifted its interim dividend and said it remains confident of meeting full-year expectations despite a drop in half-year profits.

The corporate administrative services firm lauded its "good performance" after revenue rose 17.1% to £65.9m, or 19.5% at constant currencies.

Pub chain JD Wetherspoon crept up after being lifted to ‘buy’ with a target price of 1,450p by Berenberg.

Finally, Just Group bounced began to recover from a record low after Fitch revised its ratings outlook on the firm to negative from stable.

The company had fallen dramatically last week after it suspended its dividend as a result of changes proposed by the Bank of England’s Prudential Regulation Authority that the retirement products specialist believed could weaken its capital position.

Market Movers

FTSE 250 (MCX) 20,162.47 -0.48%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Sirius Minerals (SXX) 27.67p 8.07%
Hilton Food Group (HFG) 975.00p 3.72%
Convatec Group (CTEC) 238.80p 3.42%
Premier Oil (PMO) 118.40p 3.41%
JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 499.98p 2.58%
TBC Bank Group (TBCG) 1,596.00p 1.92%
Sanne Group (SNN) 605.00p 1.85%
Wetherspoon (J.D.) (JDW) 1,279.00p 1.51%
Intu Properties (INTU) 152.00p 1.33%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 158.20p 1.28%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Sports Direct International (SPD) 343.30p -4.64%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 223.00p -3.96%
Lancashire Holdings Limited (LRE) 570.50p -3.31%
Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 588.80p -3.22%
Elementis (ELM) 245.00p -3.09%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 141.10p -3.02%
Millennium & Copthorne Hotels (MLC) 509.00p -2.86%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 85.12p -2.83%
Fisher (James) & Sons (FSJ) 1,762.00p -2.44%
Fidelity China Special Situations (FCSS) 203.01p -2.40%