FTSE 250 movers: Harbour Energy gushes; Morgan Advanced tanks

(Sharecast News) - FTSE 250 (MCX) 21,968.02 0.19% Shares in Harbour Energy surged on Thursday as the oil and gas explorer nudged up production guidance, unveiled a $100m share buyback and posted a jump in half-year adjusted earnings.

Guidance was lifted to 460,000-475,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day (kboepd) from 455-475 kboepd, with the divestment of Harbour's Vietnam business more than offset by a strong production performance to date.

The company reported average daily production of 488,000 kboepd for the six months to June, a massive increase from the 159 kboepd posted last year. Shares in the firm rose 14% in London trade.

The surge was driven by the addition of the Wintershall Dea portfolio, which contributed 173 kboepd from Norway and 75 kboepd from Argentina.

Adjusted EBITDAX rose to $3.88bn from $1.25bn.

UK government contractor Serco on Thursday held updated guidance as it posted a rise in half-year earnings and unveiled a £50m share buyback.

Underlying operating profit for the six months to June 30 rose 2% year on year to £146m. Reported revenue increased to £2.41bn from £2.35bn a year earlier.

The company in June lifted guidance, with full-year organic revenues expected to improve by around 1% due to higher than anticipated activity levels in the immigration sector, while overall revenue guidance was hiked to £4.9bn from £4.8bn. Underlying operating profit guidance of £260.0m was unchanged.

Morgan Advanced Materials warned on Thursday that full year adjusted operating profit was set to be around the bottom of the consensus range due to weak market conditions, mix effects and foreign exchange headwinds.

In results for the six months to 30 June, the company said adjusted operating profit declined to £58m from £71.3m in the same period a year earlier, with revenue down 8.7% to £522.6m.

Morgan Advanced said market conditions remained challenging in the first six months of the year. In industrial markets, it has continued to see lower order levels in Europe and China and a slowing of growth in the USA.

In the group's faster growing markets, growth in semiconductor markets has been "heavily impacted" by stocking in customer supply chains and slower-than-expected growth in global sales of electric vehicles.

The group now expects adjusted operating profit to be around the bottom of the consensus range of £126.3m to £115.6m.

Full-year revenue guidance was left unchanged, with organic constant currency revenue expected to decline by a mid single-digit percentage level. This assumes the market stabilisation seen in the first half of this year continues, but with no expectation of recovery in the second half, the company said.

Chief executive Damien Caby said: "During the first half of this year, the business has delivered a resilient performance against a backdrop of challenging markets. We remain mindful of the macroeconomic environment, but we continue to believe the business is well placed to navigate through this period of global uncertainty.

"We are continuing to execute on the strategy. I am pleased to report that we have now substantially completed our semiconductor capital investment and we continue to make good progress across our business simplification initiatives. These measures will ensure we are well placed to benefit from rapid margin expansion as markets recover."

Market Movers

FTSE 250 - Risers

Harbour Energy (HBR) 222.00p 8.72% Serco Group (SRP) 223.00p 6.49% Ocado Group (OCDO) 370.50p 5.74% Raspberry PI Holdings (RPI) 423.90p 5.19% Future (FUTR) 738.50p 3.87% RS Group (RS1) 569.50p 3.64% Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 1,378.00p 3.53% Oxford Instruments (OXIG) 1,830.00p 3.27% Bridgepoint Group (Reg S) (BPT) 341.20p 2.77% Pagegroup (PAGE) 274.00p 2.62%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Morgan Advanced Materials (MGAM) 198.40p -12.02% Ithaca Energy (ITH) 169.20p -3.31% Chemring Group (CHG) 533.00p -3.27% Man Group (EMG) 160.50p -3.25% Drax Group (DRX) 687.00p -2.69% QinetiQ Group (QQ.) 490.00p -2.68% SSP Group (SSPG) 164.90p -2.31% Pennon Group (PNN) 495.80p -2.21% JPMorgan Indian Investment Trust (JII) 1,076.00p -2.00% PRS Reit (The) (PRSR) 104.80p -1.87%