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FTSE 250 movers: Capita jumps on JPM upgrade; Grainger hit by downgrade
London's FTSE 250 index was down 0.3% to 20,953.24, with broker notes providing much of the action.
Outsourcer Capita was the best performer as JPMorgan Cazenove upgraded the stock to 'overweight' from 'neutral'.
"We upgrade to overweight given the potential for self-help to improve margins and growth and the expected free cash flow improvement over time," it said.
On the downside, residential landlord Grainger was in the red as Barclays cut the stock to 'equalweight' from 'overweight' following recent share price strength.
It said that although the company posted solid interim results on Thursday, this is now reflected in the share price following the strong share performance that has seen it gain more than 11% year-to-date, outperforming the broadly flat FTSE EPRA UK benchmark materially and reaching the bank's unchanged 320p price target.
Barclays said that other than the group progressing on its £850m acquisition target by 2020, there are limited catalysts on the horizon at the moment.
Travel operator Thomas Cook was under the cosh a day after its half-year results as Numis cut the stock to 'add' from 'buy'.
"Margin pressure has continued in its UK Tour Operator, in line with market expectations and prior company guidance," it said.
"Whilst we expect the reduction in the UK underlying EBIT margin to moderate in H2, given the shift in capacity to the Eastern Mediterranean (-25% UK-Spain) we still expect contraction for FY18 (-40 basis points)."
Specialist healthcare company BTG was weaker after Investec downgraded the stock to 'hold' following full-year results earlier in the week, which promoted an intraday share price fall of around 10%.
But Shore Capital, which rates the stock at 'buy', said the reaction was overdone, with the culprit appearing to be the company's FY2019 guidance, and in particular, a more conservative growth rate for its core interventional medicine portfolio.
FTSE 250 - Risers
Capita (CPI) 137.22p 4.12%
Games Workshop Group (GAW) 2,695.00p 3.65%
Greggs (GRG) 1,080.00p 3.25%
Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) 268.40p 2.44%
Diploma (DPLM) 1,249.00p 1.88%
On The Beach Group (OTB) 510.96p 1.78%
Bodycote (BOY) 942.00p 1.67%
Stobart Group Ltd. (STOB) 247.00p 1.65%
Homeserve (HSV) 834.50p 1.52%
TBC Bank Group (TBCG) 1,784.00p 1.36%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Cobham (COB) 118.00p -4.49%
Rank Group (RNK) 162.80p -4.12%
Contour Global (GLO) 242.00p -3.97%
Grainger (GRI) 310.13p -3.69%
Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 134.70p -3.16%
Polymetal International (POLY) 690.40p -2.76%
FDM Group (Holdings) (FDM) 1,004.00p -2.71%
Crest Nicholson Holdings (CRST) 417.74p -2.58%
BTG (BTG) 614.00p -2.46%
McCarthy & Stone (MCS) 132.70p -2.43%