London’s FTSE 250 was up 0.4% at 22,745.66 in afternoon trade on Friday.
Qinetiq was among the risers after Citi lifted its stance on the shares to ‘buy’ from ‘neutral’.
The bank noted that Qinetiq has lost around £500m market cap following a £14.5m writedown on a complex project in its interim results.
“While we accept there remains significant risk for investors on both this contract and potentially the risk management process, we also believe that 1) this is more than priced in and 2) over the next 6-12 months, these risks are likely to be retired/subside, driving a rerating in the shares,” it said.
Aston Martin was also up after executive chairman Lawrence Stroll spent almost £5m buying more shares in the luxury car maker.
On Wednesday, Stroll bought 318,500 shares at £12 each, or £3.82m and followed up on Thursday with a further 81,500 at £12.20 apiece, or just over £1m. He now holds around 21.6% of the company.
Homeware retailer Dunelm gave back some gains, having rallied on Thursday on the back of a bullish note from UBS.
FTSE 250 – Risers
Syncona Limited NPV (SYNC) 204.50p 6.51%
Ninety One (N91) 271.60p 5.19%
National Express Group (NEX) 246.80p 5.11%
Capita (CPI) 35.22p 4.79%
Petropavlovsk (POG) 21.68p 4.53%
QinetiQ Group (QQ.) 256.00p 4.49%
Restaurant Group (RTN) 78.70p 3.96%
Micro Focus International (MCRO) 347.40p 3.42%
Cineworld Group (CINE) 32.19p 3.41%
Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings (AML) 1,230.00p 3.40%
FTSE 250 – Fallers
Trustpilot Group (TRST) 317.40p -7.19%
Weir Group (WEIR) 1,641.50p -2.90%
Kainos Group (KNOS) 1,772.00p -2.74%
Watches of Switzerland Group (WOSG) 1,314.00p -2.67%
JPMorgan Japanese Inv Trust (JFJ) 662.00p -2.22%
Edinburgh Worldwide Inv Trust (EWI) 290.50p -2.19%
Volution Group (FAN) 508.00p -2.12%
Baillie Gifford US Growth Trust (USA) 315.00p -2.02%
Biffa (BIFF) 348.00p -1.97%
Dunelm Group (DNLM) 1,358.00p -1.95%
