FTSE 250 movers: Royal Mail slumps; Crest Nicholson lifted by upgrade

London’s FTSE 250 was down 0.3% at 17,098.38 in afternoon trade on Thursday.

Royal Mail shares slid after the company said it will cut 2,000 manager jobs as it desperately tried to save £130m in costs amid the coronavirus crisis and reported a 25% plunge in full year profits. It also said it was slashing £300m in spending over the next two years.

Capita fell as the outsourcer warned that first-half revenue will be around 10% lower than last year, partly due to the Covid-19 pandemic. It said 5% of the decline relates to the coronavirus, while a small drop in trading was expected in the first half due to contract losses reported in 2019.

EasyJet flew lower after raising £419m from investors to strengthen its balance sheet against the potential costs of further disruption from Covid-19. The budget airline issued 59.542m new shares at a price of 703p a share – a 5% discount to the closing share price on Wednesday.

Gold miner Hochschild was weaker after RBC Capital Markets downgraded the stock to ‘sector perform’ from ‘outperform’.

“Shares have performed strongly in recent weeks, we now see limited upside to our lower 210p target price,” it said.

Housebuilder Crest Nicholson was the standout gainer as Canaccord Genuity lifted its rating on the stock to ‘buy’ after interim results on Wednesday.

The broker said: “While there remains material macro uncertainly, management hopefully provided profit guidance for the full year, which implies a sharp profit increase in the second half on that delivered for the first.

“Liquidity and the balance sheet look comfortable.”

FTSE 250 – Risers

Petropavlovsk (POG) 32.15p 7.17%
Avon Rubber (AVON) 3,125.00p 3.82%
Crest Nicholson Holdings (CRST) 213.00p 3.80%
AO World (AO.) 145.80p 3.70%
Brewin Dolphin Holdings (BRW) 262.00p 3.56%
Investec (INVP) 162.70p 3.30%
Herald Investment Trust (HRI) 1,568.00p 3.16%
LXI Reit (LXI) 118.00p 2.97%
Network International Holdings (NETW) 446.40p 2.95%
Apax Global Alpha Limited (APAX) 142.40p 2.89%

FTSE 250 – Fallers

Royal Mail (RMG) 155.25p -13.68%
Cineworld Group (CINE) 67.00p -7.92%
Capita (CPI) 43.00p -7.63%
easyJet (EZJ) 686.40p -7.24%
Airtel Africa (AAF) 59.80p -6.56%
National Express Group (NEX) 207.00p -6.33%
PPHE Hotel Group Ltd (PPH) 1,005.00p -6.07%
Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) 192.20p -5.78%
Trainline (TRN) 472.40p -5.33%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 192.70p -5.07%