LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - London\'s FTSE 250 was up 0.8% at 19,442.72 in afternoon trade on Friday, with shares of Metro Bank slumping even as it said plans to raise £350m of equity capital were well advanced after it was forced to reassure customers their money was safe.


The challenger bank announced the planned capital raising in February after lax accounting caused it to under-report the risk of millions of pounds of commercial property loans and loans to commercial buy-to-let operators, leading to speculation about the bank\'s financial strength.

CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson said: \"Not surprisingly shareholders are furious having already been tapped for £300m last summer and while the bank has announced this morning that the £350m capital raising is well advanced, they haven\'t answered any of the questions around why the error happened in the first place. No-one has been held accountable despite the fact that the error was only spotted by the Bank of England, and not by the bank, or its own auditors.\"

Infrastructure outfit Stobart Group also slid, as it delayed the release of its full-year results to May 29, instead of May 15 as previously planned.

Stock in Victrex was lower after the polymer solutions provider reported a 13% drop in first-half revenue to £145.7m, while Intu Properties was downgraded to \'underweight\' by analysts at JPMorgan who argued that the real estate investor has not stabilised.

\"Despite the recent material cut to rental growth guidance (up to -6% in 19) the shares are flat over the last three weeks and up 7% from a 52 week low in May, but there remains no dividend, the earnings outlook is hard to quantify and relative to other retail peers (that pay dividends) the future EPS multiple does not look compelling. There are few anchors for the share price in our view,\" said the analysts.

Man Group was downgraded to \'neutral\' by Goldman Sachs analysts who stated they saw no growth for management fees and lowered forecasts for for performance fees in 2019 from $220m to $200m.

Amigo Holdings was the top riser, while oilfield services provider Hunting rose alongside oilers Energean Oil & Gas, Vivo Energy and Tullow Oil as oil prices climbed after Saudi Arabia said two of its oil tankers were attacked over the weekend near the Strait of Hormuz.

Market Movers

FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,180.06 -0.96%


FTSE 250 - Risers

Amigo Holdings (AMGO) 230.50p 2.90%
Hunting (HTG) 552.50p 2.60%
Hilton Food Group (HFG) 1,036.00p 1.97%
Energean Oil & Gas (ENOG) 812.00p 1.50%
Vivo Energy (VVO) 125.00p 1.46%
Syncona Limited NPV (SYNC) 257.50p 1.38%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 216.00p 1.36%
Barr (A.G.) (BAG) 832.00p 1.34%
Pennon Group (PNN) 732.60p 1.27%
SSP Group (SSPG) 692.00p 1.17%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Metro Bank (MTRO) 486.16p -8.87%
Stobart Group Ltd. (STOB) 129.64p -8.06%
Sirius Minerals (SXX) 18.08p -6.03%
Victrex plc (VCT) 2,092.56p -5.74%
AJ Bell (AJB) 448.00p -5.29%
Rotork (ROR) 281.70p -5.28%
Cineworld Group (CINE) 297.90p -4.91%
Intu Properties (INTU) 92.74p -4.73%
Man Group (EMG) 144.95p -4.48%
GVC Holdings (GVC) 574.00p -3.88%

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