The FTSE 250 index was down 0.20% at 1507 GMT on Monday.
Helping to keep the index’s losses relatively low on a day of broader market turmoil as Russia continued its unprovoked assault on Ukraine were shares in Oxford Instruments, up 20%, after the company confirmed it had received a possible takeover offer from Spectris at 3,100p a share.
The proposal, which was made on Friday, followed a series of earlier proposals from Spectris, the first of which was received on 11 February, the company said.
It values each Oxford Instruments share at 3,100p. Shareholders would receive 1,950p in cash plus 1,150p in new Spectris shares for each of their shares.
Spectris shares were lower on the news.
Russian gold miner Petropavlovsk all tumbled on fears of disruption from financial sanctions against Moscow.
RHI Magnesita shares fell as the company also reported on its exposure to Russia, Ukraine and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The company said around 3.4% of group revenues were from the CIS region in 2021, with the board saying that business would be impacted by sanctions.
Travel-related stocks were weaker again after the EU announced over the weekend that it was closing its airspace to Russian aircraft, with budget airlines Wizz and easyJet and travel firm Tui all sharply lower.
Specialist defence manufacturer Chemring and sector peer Babcock rallied after Germany upped its defence budget over the weekend. Qinetiq was also benefitting from a rating upgrade at JPMorgan.
FTSE 250 – Risers
Oxford Instruments (OXIG) 2,430.00p 20.30%
Chemring Group (CHG) 311.00p 13.92%
QinetiQ Group (QQ.) 294.40p 11.94%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 169.10p 10.52%
Babcock International Group (BAB) 331.10p 7.96%
Oxford Biomedica (OXB) 747.00p 5.96%
Drax Group (DRX) 703.50p 5.95%
Impax Environmental Markets (IEM) 445.50p 5.95%
Countryside Partnerships (CSP) 300.20p 5.63%
Darktrace (DARK) 430.00p 5.60%
FTSE 250 – Fallers
Petropavlovsk (POG) 7.20p -24.13%
Spectris (SXS) 2,742.00p -11.09%
RHI Magnesita N.V. (DI) (RHIM) 2,738.00p -9.10%
Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 3,284.00p -8.19%
Cineworld Group (CINE) 38.53p -6.46%
TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 236.30p -6.38%
easyJet (EZJ) 590.60p -5.69%
Baltic Classifieds Group (BCG) 156.00p -5.45%
IMI (IMI) 1,426.00p -5.44%
Watches of Switzerland Group (WOSG) 1,174.00p -4.55%
