FTSE 250 movers: Games Workshop rolls higher, Plus500 plummets
By Duncan Ferris
Date: Friday 12 Apr 2019
(Sharecast News) - London's FTSE 250 index was 0.33% higher at 19,684.98 in afternoon trade on Friday, with Games Workshop propelling the index upwards.
The tabletop gaming retailer rallied after saying that trading since January has "continued well" with sales and profits ahead of last year.
Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said: "The company is boosted by new licensing income as it taps into the power of its brands, of which Warhammer is the most popular. In retail knowing your customer is key and this is an area in which Games Workshop excels. It is constantly looking to engage with its audience through a variety of different mediums. This underpins robust cash flow and resilient earnings and for as long as this hobby remains popular the company looks well positioned to benefit."
Indivior recovered some of the ground it lost after the shares dropped 70% earlier in the week when the anti-opioid addiction treatment developer was indicted by a US Federal Jury for fraudulent misrepresentation with respect to its Suboxone Film treatment.
On the downside, online trading platform Plus500 saw its shares tumble as it posted a 65% drop in first-quarter revenue amid "subdued" financial markets, with the number of active customers and average revenue per user both down amid low levels of volatility.
Analysts at Canaccord, who downgraded the stock from 'buy' to 'hold', said: "while conditions could improve and extrapolating from a single quarter is dangerous, visibility is low and market losses are large. It is also difficult to separate the impact of markets and the regulatory restrictions on retail client trading."
Sector peers IG Group, Playtech and CMC Markets all lost ground.
Shares in Pets at Home slumped as it emerged that Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) has sold its entire 10.8% stake in the pet supplies retailer, while Entertainment One also fell as the Peppa Pig owner said it had successfully placed 28.9m shares at 450p, raising £130m to help fund the acquisition of UK score producer Audio Network.
WH Smith dropped back after they climbed during the previous session on the back of jump in interim revenue thanks to a strong performance from its travel division, though profit was dented by costs related to the acquisition of US airport retailer InMotion.
The Daily Retailer said: "The interims yesterday from WH Smith were not of stellar quality, with headline PBT slightly down at £81m (before hefty exceptional costs), but that was in line with expectations and with the interim dividend up 8% and with management saying that the group was well positioned for the full year, the shares rose quite nicely."
Finally, precious metals miner Acacia Mining was lower ahead of its first quarter operational update on Monday.
Market Movers
FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,684.98 0.33%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Games Workshop Group (GAW) 3,700.08p 11.78%
Indivior (INDV) 33.19p 6.21%
Rank Group (RNK) 161.60p 5.35%
OneSavings Bank (OSB) 434.20p 4.88%
William Hill (WMH) 168.55p 4.50%
CYBG (CYBG) 216.40p 4.39%
Amigo Holdings (AMGO) 255.50p 3.44%
Contour Global (GLO) 212.00p 3.41%
Metro Bank (MTRO) 800.50p 3.36%
Sophos Group (SOPH) 355.00p 3.20%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Plus500 Ltd (DI) (PLUS) 514.75p -28.45%
Pets at Home Group (PETS) 141.20p -13.48%
Entertainment One Limited (ETO) 453.50p -4.89%
Spirent Communications (SPT) 142.30p -2.80%
WH Smith (SMWH) 2,132.00p -2.47%
Stagecoach Group (SGC) 121.20p -2.26%
Acacia Mining (ACA) 192.80p -2.13%
Britvic (BVIC) 933.50p -2.05%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 86.80p -1.70%
Bakkavor Group (BAKK) 129.80p -1.67%
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