Generic drug maker Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) has made a rapid return to the blue chip FTSE100 index in the latest reshuffle, just three months after being relegated to the mid-tier FTSE250.
In the latest quarterly reshuffle, Hikma replaces Inmarsat (ISAT) at the top table with the satellites business joining the FTSE250 after a 20 per cent-plus fall in its share price over the past three months with Hikma’s share price having risen by around 25 per cent in the same time period.
The FTSE250’s financial services cohort is bolstered by the addition of spread betting specialist CMC Markets (CMC) and challenger banks CYBG (CYBG) and Metro Bank (MTRO) with other entries including IC Tips Smurfitt Kappa and Hill & Smith (HILS) with the other FTSE250 new entrants comprising recently listed housebuilder Countryside Properties (CSP) and another newly listed company in the form of exhibitions and business services specialist Ascential (ASCL).
Among the notable names relegated from the FTSE 250 are IC sell recommendation Jimmy Choo (CHOO), support services business Interserve (IRV) and van hire company Northgate (NTG).
A reshuffle can often prompt a flurry of buying in a company’s shares as tracker funds are compelled to take up their required allocations of a new entrant’s shares and often the reverse is true for those companies relegated which makes Hikma’s rapid return all the more remarkable.
