FTSE 250 Movers: Homeserve shares spring a leak

31st Oct 2011 13:44

Homeserve's share price was leading the way lower after Peel Hunt downgraded the emergency repair services firm from hold to sell, after Homeserve announced that it is to suspend its telesales operation after an independent review.Homeserve saw its shares plummet by over a quarter after the audit firm Deloitte found "processes that did not meet the company's required standards." The firm responded by saying it has started "an immediate re-training programme for its telephone sales staff and is developing new scripts." Credit Suisse, has also downgraded Homeserve (HSV), and now has a neutral position on the shares, havng previously expected the shares to outperform their peers."Given the level of uncertainty we understand that negative sentiment is likely to be the dominant force in HSV's share price in the short term. However, our bear/worst-case scenarios suggest that a Neutral rating is a proper reflection of the mix between uncertainty and long term value potential. We do not change our forecasts at this stage but lower our recommendation to Neutral (from Outperform) and target price to 485p (from 570p)," the broker said. Also on the slide is, Centamin Egypt, the gold mining company with operations in the Eastern desert of Egypt, which dropped despite reporting a production increase of 5% between July and the end of September.The production boost was achieved on gold prices reaching 11% higher than the previous quarter (and a whopping 39% higher than the equivalent period of 2010). Meanwhile, Ophir Energy, the Africa focused oil and gas company, rose after announcing that it is to expand its operations in Equatorial Guinea.Its so called "Block R" contract area will be increased by 46% following an agreement with the Ministry of Mines, Industry and Energy. FTSE 250 - RisersEuromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 672.50p +2.28%Savills (SVS) 311.80p +2.23%Filtrona PLC (FLTR) 397.90p +1.84%QinetiQ Group (QQ.) 119.80p +1.70%Drax Group (DRX) 551.00p +1.47%Ophir Energy (OPHR) 267.80p +1.29%Premier Foods (PFD) 4.04p +1.23%Bwin.party Digital Entertainment (BPTY) 111.70p +1.18%Croda International (CRDA) 1,752.00p +1.10%Greggs (GRG) 515.00p +1.08%FTSE 250 - FallersHomeserve (HSV) 341.00p -29.73%New World Resources A Shares (NWR) 544.50p -8.95%Spirent Communications (SPT) 129.30p -6.44%Mothercare (MTC) 168.80p -5.70%Talvivaara Mining Company (TALV) 238.60p -5.47%Sports Direct International (SPD) 228.20p -4.92%Domino's Pizza UK & IRL (DOM) 468.70p -4.91%Centamin Egypt Ltd. (CEY) 109.70p -4.86%Lamprell (LAM) 242.80p -4.78%Heritage Oil (HOIL) 224.40p -4.63%NR