FTSE 250 movers: Balfour Beatty dives after warning on profits

29th Sep 2014 15:32

Balfour Beatty tumbled after it said its 2014 fiscal year results would be hurt by a profit shortfall of about £75m in its UK construction services division.The company conducted internal reviews which showed a further profit shortfall due to additional losses and write-downs across a number of contracts. The £75m profit reduction in construction services includes £30m within engineering services, £20m within large London area building projects, £15m within regional construction, and £10m within major infrastructure projects.The news prompted Westhouse Securities to place its target price under review - keeping a 'sell' recommendation - and to warn that the company's financial health had been jeopardised, with another significant write-down possible.Diploma, which specialises in supplying technical products and services, failed to impress with its latest trading update, in which it said it anticipates annual revenue growth of around 6% ahead of last year. The group said operating margins had remained "robust", despite the anticipated transactional currency effects on Healthcare gross margins.De La Rue dropped after Beaufort downgraded the stock to 'hold'.Meanwhile, Micro Focus rose after UBS raised its target price from 900p to 1,140p and upgraded it from 'neutral' to 'buy'.London-focused property investment group Workspace climbed after it signed a deal for the sale of a portfolio of non-core industrial estates for gross proceeds of £44.3m.FTSE 250 - RisersRank Group (RNK) 166.50p +3.35%EnQuest (ENQ) 109.10p +3.02%Polymetal International (POLY) 491.30p +2.89%Micro Focus International (MCRO) 1,059.00p +2.72%AO World (AO.) 193.00p +2.55%Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 1,031.00p Afren (AFR) 102.60p +2.29%Enterprise Inns (ETI) 121.50p +1.93%Crest Nicholson Holdings (CRST) 325.40p +1.69%Elementis (ELM) 255.20p +1.67%FTSE 250 - FallersBalfour Beatty (BBY) 185.30p -17.61%Just Retirement Group (JRG) 123.70p -9.71%De La Rue (DLAR) 474.30p -5.89%COLT Group SA (COLT) 134.40p -3.79%Ferrexpo (FXPO) 114.30p -3.38%Morgan Advanced Materials (MGAM) 297.40p -3.22%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 261.60p -3.11%Ocado Group (OCDO) 259.40p -2.99%Ophir Energy (OPHR) 231.10p -2.74%Carillion (CLLN) 303.70p -2.54%