FTSE 250 movers: Victrex drops, Virgin Money climbs

London’s FTSE 250 was down by 0.32% at 20,956.09 in afternoon trade on Friday, with Victrex leading the index lower.

Royal Mail was also weaker following a downgrade to ‘market perform’ at Bernstein, while the stock was also in focus after the Court of Appeal rejected a union appeal against an injunction preventing its staff from striking ahead of Christmas.

Up at the other end of the index, Virgin Money was on the rise for the second day running after its annual results on Thursday, with a note from Deutsche Bank saying that while the results were a miss, guidance was better than expected.

CMC Markets analyst David Madden said: “Usually if a company were to halt its dividend the stock would endure a sharp sell-off, but seeing as the bank gave off the impression it is over the worse of the PPI costs, the stock rallied.

“The bullish sentiment continues today, but just there are no guarantees that PPI won’t rear its ugly head again.’

Payment services company PayPoint recovered, having dropped on Thursday after it posted a decline in first-half profit on the back of increased costs, but revenues rose.

Finally, marine services company James Fisher also edged backing into the green after a fall in the prior session when it said it expected full year profits to be “modestly below” expectations but ahead of last year’s £56.1m.

Market Movers

FTSE 250 (MCX) 20,956.09 -0.32%