LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - London's second-tier was 0.27% lower at 20,059.94 in afternoon trade on Thursday, with Crest Nicholson leading the index downward.

The housebuilder tumbled after it warned on full-year profits, highlighting a "volatile" sales environment in some of its regional businesses in the second half, driven mainly by Brexit-related uncertainty and the economic outlook in the UK.

AJ Bell analyst Russ Mould said: "The fact that Peter Truscott, the new boss of Crest Nicholson, has laid out numerous strategic changes in less than two months of joining the business would suggest the housebuilder wasn't firing on all cylinders. Profit warnings often come in the early stages of a new chief executive's tenure if they have done a review of the business and found unsatisfactory practices.

"You often have to wait up to six months for a review to be completed, so to have a profit warning from Crest Nicholson only seven weeks after Mr Truscott joined would imply that the strategic challenges were glaringly obvious and needed addressing immediately."

Dunelm, Go-Ahead and Ashmore all lost ground as their shares went ex-dividend.

Hunting was also in the red after its price target was slashed from 630p to 480p by Berenberg analysts due to the company's challenging near-term outlook.

"Activity has slowed in the US onshore sector, putting pressure on margins for Hunting Titan, and given the downward trajectory of the rig count and current commodity prices, there appears to be little chance of an improving environment in 2020," said analysts.

ConvaTec dropped after analysts at JPMorgan cut the stock's target price from 174p to 171p just a day after the medical technology company reported that trading was in line with management expectations.

Up at the other end of the index, Future surged after it raised £104.4m from a completed placing, which the media company will use acquire magazine printer TI Media.

Market Movers

FTSE 250 (MCX) 20,059.94 -0.27%


FTSE 250 - Risers

Future (FUTR) 1,519.03p 11.69%
Kainos Group (KNOS) 518.00p 3.19%
SSP Group (SSPG) 647.00p 3.03%
Clarkson (CKN) 2,835.00p 1.80%
PayPoint (PAY) 927.52p 1.59%
Pets at Home Group (PETS) 207.00p 1.57%
Apax Global Alpha Limited (APAX) 163.00p 1.56%
Softcat (SCT) 951.00p 1.55%
Bakkavor Group (BAKK) 120.00p 1.52%
Homeserve (HSV) 1,168.00p 1.48%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Crest Nicholson Holdings (CRST) 384.38p -6.11%
Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings (AML) 406.67p -5.32%
Dunelm Group (DNLM) 803.50p -4.80%
Plus500 Ltd (DI) (PLUS) 795.60p -3.94%
Hunting (HTG) 389.40p -3.66%
Man Group (EMG) 142.35p -3.23%
Convatec Group (CTEC) 196.35p -3.18%
Go-Ahead Group (GOG) 2,054.00p -3.02%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 203.90p -2.72%
Ashmore Group (ASHM) 464.20p -2.64%

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