FTSE 250 movers: Mitie rises after profit guidance hike, JTC hit by downgrade
By Josh White
Date: Friday 24 Sep 2021
(Sharecast News) - Facilities management company Mitie Group was on the rise on Friday afternoon, after it lifted annual profit guidance following a strong second quarter earlier.
The company was boosted by the award of more Covid-19-related contracts and a return to office work after lockdowns.
It said it was expecting operating profit before other items to be £145m and £155m, despite an expected slowdown in revenue from pandemic work.
"Current market expectations for full-year 2023 are unchanged, pending full recovery of our discretionary variable and project work in our technical services business to pre-Covid levels and until any further Covid-related work is judged to be likely in full-year 2023," Mitie said in a trading update on Friday.
Travel-related stocks were also in positive territory, with low-cost carrier easyJet and tour operator TUI in the green, after a buoyant week for the sector.
Sentiment around travel was given a boost earlier in the week, after the US announced plans to reopen its borders to fully-vaccinated foreigners, and Westminster took the wraps off a streamlining of the travel 'traffic light' system from the start of October.
On the downside, Harbour Energy added to its losses from the previous session, when it announced decreased reported production and earnings in its first half.
The company said the all-share merger between Premier Oil and Chrysaor Holdings was complete, with the integration and realisation of synergies progressing as planned.
Reported production totalled 151,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day for the six months ended 30 June, down from 187,000 barrels per day in the first half of 2020.
Fund management services provider JTC slumped after Shore Capital downgraded the stock to 'sell' from 'hold', saying it was time to take some profits after recent share price strength.
Shore noted that since the trading update on 22 July, the shares have risen 24%.
Since the update, JTC's 12-month forward price-to-earnings has expanded from around 21x to 27x, with limited yield support.
"Evidently this hasn't been driven by earnings expectations," it said.
"We therefore think that, reading across from Sanne's takeout, the market has placed a private equity bid premium on JTC's shares."
FTSE 250 - Risers
Cineworld Group (CINE) 71.28p 4.49%
easyJet (EZJ) 679.60p 3.95%
Pantheon International (PIN) 3,030.00p 3.41%
National Express Group (NEX) 242.60p 2.28%
Mitie Group (MTO) 72.50p 2.26%
TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 327.90p 1.83%
Telecom Plus (TEP) 1,186.00p 1.72%
Carnival (CCL) 1,672.20p 1.68%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 91.48p 1.67%
Virgin Money UK (VMUK) 207.70p 1.61%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Darktrace (DARK) 898.00p -8.83%
Harbour Energy (HBR) 344.00p -4.07%
Auction Technology Group (ATG) 1,372.00p -4.06%
JTC (JTC) 734.00p -4.05%
Liontrust Asset Management (LIO) 2,210.00p -3.91%
Oxford Biomedica (OXB) 1,558.00p -3.71%
Currys (CURY) 134.70p -3.51%
Draper Esprit (GROW) 1,114.00p -3.47%
Trustpilot Group (TRST) 335.00p -3.12%
Tritax Big Box Reit (BBOX) 224.00p -3.03%
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