London’s FTSE 250 was up 2% at 19,869.47 in afternoon trade on Friday.
Private equity firm Bridgepoint was the top gainer on the index, closely followed by online greeting card and gift retailer Moonpig and review website Trustpilot.
On the downside, Drax lost ground after Credit Suisse downgraded the shares to ‘underperform’ from ‘neutral’ on expectations the power generator could face windfall taxes.
It noted that Drax has benefited from the recent surge in gas prices, and the bank increased its estimates for earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation by 11%, 31% and 27% for 2022, 2023 and 2024, respectively. It also increased its target price by 50p to 650p.
But it cut its rating on expectations that gas prices will start to ease, or that the generator could face windfall taxes.
FTSE 250 – Risers
Bridgepoint Group (Reg S) (BPT) 277.20p 8.54%
Moonpig Group (MOON) 234.80p 8.40%
Trustpilot Group (TRST) 109.60p 7.87%
TI Fluid Systems (TIFS) 179.40p 7.81%
Baltic Classifieds Group (BCG) 149.80p 7.77%
Chrysalis Investments Limited NPV (CHRY) 130.80p 7.21%
Dr. Martens (DOCS) 195.40p 6.83%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 147.80p 5.95%
SSP Group (SSPG) 233.80p 5.89%
NB Private Equity Partners Ltd. (NBPE) 1,475.00p 4.98%
FTSE 250 – Fallers
Drax Group (DRX) 737.50p -4.59%
Vietnam Enterprise Investments (DI) (VEIL) 646.00p -4.15%
Playtech (PTEC) 500.00p -3.47%
Helios Towers (HTWS) 110.60p -1.86%
Ninety One (N91) 243.60p -1.69%
BH Macro Ltd. GBP Shares (BHMG) 4,305.00p -1.49%
Rank Group (RNK) 100.60p -1.37%
Greencoat UK Wind (UKW) 155.50p -1.21%
Syncona Limited NPV (SYNC) 171.20p -1.15%
Telecom Plus (TEP) 1,552.00p -1.15%
