FTSE 250 movers: Wizz flies higher; Redrow paces decline for housebuilders

London’s FTSE 250 was down 1% to 20,098.08 in afternoon trade on Thursday, with housebuilders lower after a cautious update from Redrow and uninspiring data from RICS.

Housebuilder Redrow was weaker after saying that trading in the first 18 weeks of the current financial year has been in line with expectations, but also highlighting a slight slowdown in sales in recent weeks amid ongoing political and economic uncertainty.

The sector was hit more broadly as the latest figures from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors showed house prices were down in four areas of the country in October, with London, the South East, East Anglia and north-east England all showing declines.

Bovis Homes, Bellway and Crest Nicholson all fell.

Inmarsat was trading down as it reported higher third quarter revenues thanks to encouraging maritime sales but lower profits as it continues to invest in grabbing market share in airline in-flight internet.

Builders merchant Grafton declined despite posting a rise in revenue for the 10 months to the end of October as it reaffirmed its expectations for the year, while Card Factory fell as its stock went ex-dividend.

Vectura took a hit as Hikma Pharmaceuticals gave an update on its generic version of GlaxoSmithKline’s Advair for asthma, saying approval in the US faces more hurdles. Vectura formulated the drug and provided the puffer device.

Halfords was on the back foot after it reported a drop in interim profit as the weaker pound increased costs.

Going the other way, low-cost Hungarian airline Wizz Air flew higher as JPMorgan Cazenove upped its price target on the stock.

Hochschild Mining was on the front foot as it said that following the recent approval of the amendment of the Pallancata operation's Environmental Impact Assessment to include the Pablo vein, it now has all the requisite permits and approvals in place to proceed with mining operations.

CLS Holdings was up after it acquired Columbia Bracknell, a multi-let office property in Bracknell, Berkshire, for £14.7m excluding costs, while Dixons Carphone advanced as Investec upgraded its stance on the stock ‘buy’ from ‘hold’, saying any further material downgrades are unlikely.

Risers

Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 3,155.00p 4.33%
Rank Group (RNK) 232.50p 2.20%
Playtech (PTEC) 828.00p 2.10%
3i Infrastructure (3IN) 200.20p 2.04%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 237.20p 1.89%
Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 1,151.00p 1.77%
CLS Holdings (CLI) 229.00p 1.73%
Dixons Carphone (DC.) 155.10p 1.70%
Acacia Mining (ACA) 174.50p 1.69%
Restaurant Group (RTN) 290.00p 1.36%

Fallers

Inmarsat (ISAT) 510.50p -8.84%
Card Factory (CARD) 285.10p -7.22%
Grafton Group Units (GFTU) 764.50p -7.11%
Vectura Group (VEC) 90.00p -6.69%
Halfords Group (HFD) 314.50p -5.47%
Redrow (RDW) 606.50p -5.46%
Go-Ahead Group (GOG) 1,695.00p -5.25%
Bovis Homes Group (BVS) 1,123.00p -5.15%
Bellway (BWY) 3,447.00p -5.02%
Crest Nicholson Holdings (CRST) 520.00p -4.59%