(Sharecast News) - London's FTSE 250 was up 0.1% at 19,728.49 in afternoon trade on Wednesday.

Royal Mail parent IDS advanced as it proposed a series of operational changes - including delivering all non-first class and second class mail every other weekday - which are expected to cut costs by £300m. The proposals were made in response to Ofcom's call for universal service reforms amid declining letter volumes.

Renishaw was under the cosh after German engineering firm Siemens confirmed late on Tuesday that it does not intend to make an offer for the company.

The statement from Siemens came after markets blog Betaville suggested in an 'uncooked alert' that Renishaw was at the centre of takeover speculation.

Betaville cited some people following the situation as saying that the company interested in buying Renishaw was "one of the largest industrial conglomerates in Europe".

FTSE 250 - Risers

Close Brothers Group (CBG) 419.80p 4.38%

International Distributions Services (IDS) 235.20p 3.80%

Indivior (INDV) 1,715.00p 3.06%

Man Group (EMG) 271.80p 2.18%

Abrdn (ABDN) 142.60p 2.08%

Wood Group (John) (WG.) 129.90p 1.96%

Petershill Partners (PHLL) 197.80p 1.96%

Dr. Martens (DOCS) 91.65p 1.78%

Watches of Switzerland Group (WOSG) 346.80p 1.76%

Helios Towers (HTWS) 93.10p 1.64%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Renishaw (RSW) 4,185.00p -3.79%

Future (FUTR) 596.00p -3.56%

Bridgepoint Group (Reg S) (BPT) 249.00p -3.26%

Moonpig Group (MOON) 163.80p -3.08%

W.A.G Payment Solutions (WPS) 65.20p -2.98%

Ithaca Energy (ITH) 118.80p -2.94%

Ferrexpo (FXPO) 43.20p -2.92%

TBC Bank Group (TBCG) 3,140.00p -2.64%

Quilter (QLT) 103.60p -2.63%

Empiric Student Property (ESP) 92.60p -2.01%