FTSE 250 movers: Oil stocks gain on Iran jitters; Ceres slumps after downgrade

(Sharecast News) - FTSE 250 (MCX) 22,215.76 -0.98% Oil stocks were back in favour on the back of rising crude prices as the fragile ceasefire between the US and Iran appeared to be cracking over Israel's continued bombardment of civilian areas of Lebanon.

Diversified Energy, Ithaca, Harbour and Energean all made gains. The latter was also boosted by the Israeli government approving a restart of production and operations at its Energean Power floating gas production, storage and offloading facility near the country's coast.

The facility was shut down last month after The US and Israel started their war of choice against Iran.

The FPSO sits over the Karish gas field about 90km offshore and is connected to Israel's national grid.

Vending machine operator Me Group was up after striking a new partnership agreement with Asda that will see its Wash.ME laundry machines be located on ASDA sites.

Under the agreement, Me Group will install and operate Wash.ME laundry machines at Asda's supercentre, superstore, supermarket and petrol forecourt sites across the UK, with the group targetting up to 700 laundry machines across these sites.

The FTSE 250-listed firm said on Thursday that the new partnership with Asda supported its growth strategy, with ambitions to install more than 1,300 Wash.ME laundry machines in FY26 and a long-term target of installing in excess of 20,000 machines globally.

Me Group, formerly known as Photo-Me International, currently operates more than 7,600 Wash.ME laundry machines across 12 countries.

Deputy chief executive Vladimir Crasneanscki said: "Asda is a perfect company to partner with, their retail and petrol stations are excellent locations for our services and their innovative and fast-paced approach will enable us to deploy our units rapidly.

"The rapid expansion of our Wash.ME laundry services is a key strategic priority for the group, driven by strong consumer demand. In 2025, we announced a record number of Wash.ME machine installations of 1,326 across our geographies, and we have clear ambitions to continue building on this progress. This partnership is indicative of our intention to further cement our UK market-leading position in the unattended laundry segment."

Ceres Power Holdings plunged after Peel Hunt cut the stock to a 'sell' from 'hold' and raised its price target to 200p from 190.

The broker said the current valuation "reflects an overly optimistic growth view of the timing of long-term cash returns and investment plans", adding that the "hype" around a collaboration with British Gas owner Centrica appeared to be "premature".

"The (Ceres) CEO confirms any near term revenue from the collaboration will be 'modest'," they added.

FTSE 250 - Risers

Diversified Energy Company (DI) (DEC) 1,250.00p 4.34% Energean (ENOG) 860.50p 3.49% Ithaca Energy (ITH) 250.40p 3.47% Raspberry PI Holdings (RPI) 487.40p 2.44% CMC Markets (CMCX) 372.50p 1.78% AJ Bell (AJB) 527.00p 1.64% Harbour Energy (HBR) 275.40p 1.25% PPHE Hotel Group Ltd (PPH) 1,652.00p 1.10% Oakley Capital Investments Limited (DI) (OCI) 498.50p 0.91% Wickes Group (WIX) 223.00p 0.90%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Ceres Power Holdings (CWR) 315.40p -8.31% Man Group (EMG) 245.40p -6.76% GB Group (GBG) 197.80p -6.06% Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) 107.80p -5.68% Vistry Group (VTY) 341.00p -4.91% ITV (ITV) 75.60p -4.90% SDCL Efficiency Income Trust (SEIT) 43.40p -4.62% Savills (SVS) 817.00p -4.56% Close Brothers Group (CBG) 420.60p -4.49% Jupiter Fund Management (JUP) 159.40p -3.98%