LONDON (ShareCast) - Intellectual property company IP Group soared after announcing plans to float its portfolio company Xeros on the AIM market.

Around a third of washing machine firm Xeros will be put up for sale, which is expected to raise between £30-40m. IP believes it will allow Xeros to “accelerate the roll-out in commercial laundry and to fund the research and development process through to commercialisation in other identified applications, not least in domestic laundry”.

Hotel firm Millennium & Copthorne also jumped after posting record revenues and profits for 2013, as fourth-quarter results were boosted by the one-off sale of the bulk of the Glyndebourne development in Singapore. This led the company to declare a special dividend, resulting in a full-year payout that is two-thirds larger than the one made for 2012.

Packaging group Essentra was back in the black after a big fall yesterday, which came despite it posting in-line results for 2013. Panmure Gordon noted that both revenues and operating profit were "slightly light" and downgraded the stock from 'buy’ to ‘hold’.

Meanwhile, Vesuvius declined after UBS initiated its coverage of the stock with a target price of 440p and a 'sell' recommendation.

Home Retail Group and Dixons both declined after UK retail sales fell more than expected in January, down 1.5% versus consensus expectations of 1.0%.


FTSE 250 - Risers
IP Group (IPO) 230.00p +7.43%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 52.85p +4.76%
Millennium & Copthorne Hotels (MLC) 596.50p +4.37%
Essentra (ESNT) 881.00p +4.26%
Hunting (HTG) 848.00p +3.41%
Big Yellow Group (BYG) 565.50p +3.10%
RPC Group (RPC) 633.00p +2.84%
Imagination Technologies Group (IMG) 187.30p +2.63%
Unite Group (UTG) 448.80p +2.61%
Moneysupermarket.com Group (MONY) 182.10p +2.59%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Vesuvius (VSVS) 460.50p -2.37%
Cranswick (CWK) 1,283.00p -1.76%
Home Retail Group (HOME) 187.90p -1.73%
Dixons Retail (DXNS) 46.85p -1.58%
Riverstone Energy Limited (RSE) 905.00p -1.47%
PZ Cussons (PZC) 358.80p -1.46%
Pace (PIC) 420.40p -1.43%
Synthomer (SYNT) 270.30p -1.35%
Evraz (EVR) 82.00p -1.32%
BH Global Ltd. GBP Shares (BHGG) 1,167.00p -1.27%

NR

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