FTSE 250 movers: William Hill boosted by double upgrade; Hikma down ahead of update
London's FTSE 250 was down 0.4% to 20,352.69 in afternoon trade on Tuesday.
Tullow Oil, Hunting and Petrofac all racked up healthy gains as oil tested new two-year highs amid renewed tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran.
Meanwhile, bookmaker William Hill was boosted by a double upgrade to ‘buy’ from Bank of America Merrill Lynch. The bank said that even in the worst-case scenario of a £2 cap on fixed-odd betting terminals from the Department for Culture, Media & Sport, the stock would offer “an attractive value opportunity”. BofA ML said a £20 cap was a more likely outcome.
Merrill said that under a £2 cap scenario, William Hill would be trading on 12.3x its 2019 earnings per share estimate, versus a five-year historical average of 12x, with a free cash flow yield of 11.6% and net debt/EBITDA of 1.05x.
On the downside, Hikma Pharmaceuticals was in the red, with traders pointing to nervousness ahead of its interim management statement on Thursday.
Animal genetics company Genus was also on the back foot as Kepler Cheuvreux initiated coverage of the stock at ‘hold’.
Risers
Tullow Oil (TLW) 202.00p 4.12%
William Hill (WMH) 271.50p 4.10%
Hunting (HTG) 549.50p 3.88%
FDM Group (Holdings) (FDM) 971.50p 3.02%
Softcat (SCT) 537.00p 2.87%
Ladbrokes Coral Group (LCL) 137.20p 2.39%
Woodford Patient Capital Trust (WPCT) 95.80p 1.91%
Safestore Holdings (SAFE) 464.20p 1.84%
St. Modwen Properties (SMP) 396.40p 1.38%
Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 451.90p 1.37%
Fallers
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 1,033.00p -4.35%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 226.90p -3.69%
Cineworld Group (CINE) 656.50p -3.24%
Restaurant Group (RTN) 288.50p -3.22%
Inmarsat (ISAT) 570.50p -3.06%
Intu Properties (INTU) 210.00p -2.96%
Capital & Counties Properties (CAPC) 258.70p -2.93%
Dixons Carphone (DC.) 157.10p -2.60%
Genus (GNS) 2,431.00p -2.25%
Indivior (INDV) 380.10p -2.16%