FTSE 250 movers: SSP hit by downgrade; Clarkson gains
London’s FTSE 250 was down 0.7% at 19,464.83 in afternoon trade on Tuesday.
Shaftesbury was under pressure after saying it had raised around £307m in a placing and open offer to help weather the Covid-19 pandemic.
Shares of Upper Crust owner SSP slid after Morgan Stanley downgraded the stock to ‘equalweight’ from ‘overweight’ and cut the price target to 320p from 330p following the recent vaccine-inspired rally. MS noted the shares have rallied strongly since last week’s Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine news, more than any other stock in its coverage. It now trades above the bank’s new price target.
As reasons for the downgrade, it pointed to a late recovery in international travel, weaker near-term trading, uncertainty over structural revenue losses, uncertainty over margin recovery and the possibility of a second equity raise.
Petrofac was knocked lower by a downgrade to ‘reduce’ at HSBC.
Energean was weaker despite saying it had continued to make "solid progress" on its Karish development throughout the third quarter of the year.
Shipping services provider Clarkson was the top performer on the index, closely followed by TBC Bank.
FTSE 250 - Risers
Clarkson (CKN) 2,605.00p 5.47%
TBC Bank Group (TBCG) 1,230.00p 5.13%
Sabre Insurance Group (SBRE) 277.00p 4.92%
Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings (AML) 73.20p 4.27%
PureTech Health (PRTC) 290.00p 3.94%
Network International Holdings (NETW) 274.40p 3.86%
Avon Rubber (AVON) 4,265.00p 3.52%
XP Power Ltd. (DI) (XPP) 4,340.00p 3.33%
Rank Group (RNK) 145.80p 3.26%
John Laing Group (JLG) 317.60p 2.65%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Shaftesbury (SHB) 562.50p -6.48%
SSP Group (SSPG) 347.00p -5.91%
Syncona Limited NPV (SYNC) 264.50p -5.03%
Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 153.70p -4.86%
Carnival (CCL) 1,156.50p -4.62%
Cineworld Group (CINE) 47.64p -4.26%
Capital & Counties Properties (CAPC) 144.90p -4.17%
ICG Enterprise Trust (ICGT) 890.00p -4.09%
Greencore Group (GNC) 122.00p -4.09%
Energean (ENOG) 675.80p -4.01%