FTSE 250 movers: Tate & Lyle in a sweet spot, but Poundland tumbles

24th Sep 2015 14:03

(ShareCast News) - London's FTSE 250 index was down 0.8% to 16,522.30 at 1524 BST, in line with the broader market.Tate & Lyle was in a sweet spot after Liberum upgraded the stock to 'buy' from 'sell' and lifted its price target to 670p from 505p. "While history is disappointing - four profit warnings and a collapse of around 40% in pre-tax profits since full-year 2014 - we see early signs of change and scope for significant upside," the broker said.The analysts said full-year 2016 will prove an inflection point and forecasts a 16% rebound in full-year 2017 pre-tax profit as one-off items drop out and new Speciality Food Ingredients capacity comes online.Tour operator Thomas Cook was also on the front foot after the company said it had a positive end to the financial year and an encouraging start to winter trading. In a trading statement ahead of its results, the group announced that 2015 summer holiday sales were 91% sold - in line with expectations and at the same level as 2014.On the downside, shares in Poundland tumbled after the company unveiled plans to raise £50m to finance the purchase of rival retail chain 99p Stores, and warned that first-half profits in the current year would be lower on the back of weaker like-for-like sales and store expansion costs.Euromoney Institutional Investor was under the cosh after management announced that tough conditions in commodities markets will result in a 1% fall in full-year revenues and an adjusted profit before tax of £107m compared with £116.2m in 2014. Headline revenues for the fourth quarter are expected to show a 5% decrease on the same period last year, and an underlying decrease, at constant currency and excluding acquisitions and disposals, of 7%, Euromoney said.Allied Minds continued to suffer heavy losses after New York-based hedge fund Kerrisdale Capital slammed the company on Tuesday, saying it was "a dressed-up collection of high-risk, low-reward gambles".Kerrisdale said: "Allied Minds has not sold any of its portfolio companies, has not taken a single one public, has not generated any material licensing revenues from its intellectual property, and has produced negligible revenue even from its 'mature' subsidiaries."Shares in Drax fell sharply as it went ex-dividend.RisersEvraz (EVR) 68.55p +4.98%Tate & Lyle (TATE) 578.00p +4.81%Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) 342.00p +2.70%Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 118.80p +2.50%Genus (GNS) 1,453.00p +2.25%AO World (AO.) 160.10p +2.17%Enterprise Inns (ETI) 112.60p +1.90%Zoopla Property Group (WI) (ZPLA) 208.70p +1.90%Just Eat (JE.) 385.60p +1.74%Synergy Health (SYR) 1,589.00p +1.53% FallersAllied Minds (ALM) 375.00p -14.97%Poundland Group (PLND) 275.00p -11.18%Petra Diamonds Ltd.(DI) (PDL) 90.15p -8.94%Drax Group (DRX) 237.90p -8.25%Tullow Oil (TLW) 168.10p -6.46%Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 1,015.00p -4.61%Morgan Advanced Materials (MGAM) 282.00p -4.50%Circassia Pharmaceuticals (CIR) 296.10p -4.42%Ophir Energy (OPHR) 78.15p -4.40%Pets at Home Group (PETS) 266.90p -3.99%