Region’s FTSE 250 firms lose more than £1bn in share sell-off
SOME of the region’s largest public companies saw £1.4bn lost from their value in the hours following the UK’s vote to leave the European Union.
Although the region’s FTSE 100 companies, National Grid and Severn Trent, were unaffected by the market’s response to the Brexit vote – National Grid being one of the few risers on the index in mid-morning – the same was not true of the FTSE 250 firms.
St Modwen, Paragon, Halfords and Mitchells & Butlers had all lost more than 15% by lunchtime, with the region’s 11 FTSE-250 companies seeing their value drop by an aggregate of £1.35bn.
The FTSE 100, which lost more than 500 points in early trading, had recovered half its losses by lunchtime but was still down more than 4%. Similarly the FTSE 250 also staged a partial recovery through the morning, but remained 8% lower than last night’s close.
The pound has also struggled against the dollar, falling 6% to $1.37 by midday.
David Lamb, head of dealing at FEXCO Corporate Payments, said: “Amid the hyperbole and today’s vertiginous fall, Sterling’s one saving grace is that the Euro is likely to be hit almost as hard by a Brexit. So the Pound’s collapse relative to the single currency has been mitigated as both race to the bottom.
“But against the Dollar, no quarter has been given. The Pound’s early plunge today was magnified by its late night rally – which saw it rise to $1.50 as the global markets bet on a Remain win.
“The painful question now is how far, and for how long will it fall? But talk of freefall is overblown. With Mark Carney pledging to do whatever it takes to prop up the UK economy, in many ways we’re back to where we were a few months ago.”
