FTSE 250 movers: Investors rush to Superdry, leaving 3i behind

The FTSE 250 was just above the line in afternoon trading on Thursday, after the Bank of England voted unanimously to keep interest rated under lockdown while also warning of uncertainty should the UK leave the EU.

Clothing designer and retailer Supergroup was one of the leaders, after it posted a powerful fourth-quarter performance and lifted its full year profit guidance.

The company - which operated the Superdry brand - said profit for the year to 23 April was expected to be between £72.5m and £74m.

That came after fourth quarter total retail sales surged 29.9%, with like-for-like sales up 15.4% against the 11.6% posted a year ago.

Wholesale sales also rose, by 19.6% in the second half.

"The group has traded robustly throughout the final quarter as we continue to deliver our strategy to create a global lifestyle brand," said chief executive Euan Sutherland, who pointed out that during the quarter the group had also paid its first dividend and retained £102m net cash to support the investment programme.

Aldermore was another big riser after enjoying its best ever quarter of loan origination, helping the challenger bank to grow its loan book 6% to £6.5bn during the first three months of the year.

New business origination increased 43% to £814m in the first quarter, compared to £568m in the same period last year, though the bank said this was primarily driven by strong volumes in buy-to-let lending ahead of the stamp duty increase in April.

Total mortgage origination rose 60% to £542m.

Analyst Gary Greenwood at Shore Capital said he expected buy-to-let volumes to moderate somewhat in the coming months, "albeit we do not expect the market to drop off a cliff", and noted the CET1 ratio was towards the bottom end of the quoted specialist and challenger bank peer group range.

The Rank Group rounded out the risers, after the gambling operator revealed a winter of growth with like-for-like revenue up 3% in the 19 weeks to 8 May.

Total revenue rose 2% in the same period and digital revenue grew 6%.

While its Grosvenor Casinos brand enjoyed growth both in-venue and online, it wasn’t all roses - digital revenues at is Mecca brand took a 5% hit after disruption caused by a recent migration to a new platform.

On the downside, the market was not happy with 3i Infrastructure’s annual results, in which is posted a 14% total return on net asset value in the year to 31 MArch.

The company’s net asset value at year-end was £1.28bn and it claimed to remain in a strong position, although it did announce an open offer, placing and intermediaries offer to raise up to £350m from new and existing shareholders to invest in even more.

Managing partners and co-heads of infrastructure, Ben Loomes and Phil White, also issues a joint statement saying the portfolio continued to perform well, underpinning strong net asset value growth and portfolio income progression in line with objectives.

Investors seemed to be just as displeased with Vedanta Resources, which slashed its dividend by more than half as falling commodities prices hammered full-year profits.

The multinational miner said EBITDA slumped 37% to $2.34bn as shareholders took the brunt of the pain, with the dividend cut to 30 cents from 63 cents.

Pre-tax losses did narrow, however, to $4.9bn from $5.6bn, though revenues tumbles to $10.7bn from $12.9bn a year ago.

In a country where GDP may double in the decade ahead, we look forward to playing our part in unlocking India's wealth of world-class energy and mineral resources,” said chairman Anil Agrawal.

FTSE 250 - Risers

Supergroup (SGP) 1,418.00p 12.54%
Polymetal International (POLY) 773.00p 10.82%
Aldermore Group (ALD) 196.90p 6.43%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 262.40p 4.96%
Restaurant Group (RTN) 302.80p 4.56%
CLS Holdings (CLI) 1,646.00p 4.51%
Rank Group (RNK) 248.00p 4.47%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 118.00p 3.96%
Sophos Group (SOPH) 225.60p 3.63%
Hastings Group Holdings (HSTG) 186.80p 3.09%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Carillion (CLLN) 269.50p -4.77%
3i Infrastructure (3IN) 170.50p -4.75%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 364.20p -4.16%
DFS Furniture (DFS) 286.50p -3.63%
Fidessa Group (FDSA) 2,334.00p -3.19%
Evraz (EVR) 112.70p -3.01%
Barr (A.G.) (BAG) 537.50p -2.71%
Allied Minds (ALM) 309.50p -2.64%
Michael Page International (MPI) 391.80p -2.51%
Ashmore Group (ASHM) 274.50p -1.96%