FTSE 250 movers: 4Imprint makes its mark, Quilter falls

The FTSE 250 was up 1.61% at 20,233.27 at 1504 BST.

Shares in promotional gift seller 4Imprint surged on Wednesday after the company posted a rise in interim profits.

Pre-tax profits jumped to $43.9m in the six months to June 30, up from $3.4m. Revenue grew 58% to $515.5 million due to a sharp rise in new customers and a record flow of orders.

The company took on 146,000 new customers in the first half of the year, while total orders processed rose 44% to 886,000.

“The board remains very confident in the group's strategy, the strength and resilience of its business model and its competitive position,” said chairman Paul Moody.

“This confidence is expressed in our expectation of reaching our long-held revenue target of $1bn during the 2022 financial year.”

"At the same time, the board is cognisant of continuing uncertainty in the form of geo-political and broad economic factors that could potentially slow down the Group's performance during the remainder of 2022. Trading momentum in the first few weeks of the second half of 2022 has remained encouraging."

The interim dividend was lifted to $0.40 a share from $0.15.

Financial services firm TP ICAP rose as it said that revenue, underlying earnings, and pre-tax profits had all improved in the six months ended 30 June.

Adjusted revenues increased from £936.0m a year earlier to £1.08bn in the first half of 2022, with revenue growth across all business divisions, while adjusted underlying earnings increased £30.0m to £185.0m and adjusted pre-tax profits rose £28.0m to £116.0m.

The FTSE 250-listed group's adjusted EBIT margin increased six basis points to 13.1% and basic earnings per share grew from 10.2p to 12.8p on an adjusted basis. An interim dividend per share of 4.5p per share will be paid on 4 November, up from 4.0p at the same time twelve months prior.

TP ICAP also highlighted that it was on track to deliver £25.0m in cost savings by the end of 2022.

Holiday company TUI was in the black, red as it said the travel chaos seen across Europe this summer had pushed it to a third-quarter operating loss as it incurred extra costs, but added that summer bookings were close to pre-pandemic levels.

Quilter - formerly Old Mutual Wealth Management - fell as the firm reported a decline in first-half assets under management and administration, but a rise in profits.

In the six months to 30 June, AUMA fell to 12% from the end of December 2021 to £98.7bn, mainly due to adverse market movements of £14.5bn. Still, Quilter said flat revenues and cost discipline drove a 9% jump in adjusted pre-tax profit to £61m.

IFRS pre-tax profit came in at £182m compared to a loss of £21m in H1 2021, but this was largely driven by tax credits.

Quilter Investment Platform generated net inflows of £1.6bn, down from £1.8bn in the same period a year earlier, while Quilter High Net Worth generated net inflows of £0.5bn, versus £0.4bn a year earlier.

Given "the uncertain outlook", Quilter deemed it appropriate to declare an unchanged interim dividend of 1.2p a share.

Hochschild Mining fell, despite the miner being granted a key permit from Brazil's Goiás state's environmental authority, the State Secretariat for the Environment and Sustainable Development, that will enable it to start construction of a processing plant and begin mine pre-stripping.

Hochschild added that the permit granted by the Brazilian state also allowed the construction of all of the required site infrastructure for progressing the project's critical paths.

Chief executive Ignacio Bustamante said: "We are delighted to have received this permit which is an important milestone for the project. We can now continue development with first production on track for H1 2024. We would like to thank all the stakeholders in Brazil, including the environmental and sustainable development secretary of Goias and the state's executive government."

FTSE 250 - Risers

4Imprint Group (FOUR) 3,820.00p 14.03%
TP Icap Group (TCAP) 150.10p 13.28%
Carnival (CCL) 744.80p 8.16%
Synthomer (SYNT) 209.00p 7.01%
Future (FUTR) 1,788.00p 5.61%
Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings (AML) 501.60p 5.49%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 150.40p 4.88%
Chrysalis Investments Limited NPV (CHRY) 95.60p 4.82%
Dr. Martens (DOCS) 262.60p 4.79%
Countryside Partnerships (CSP) 280.00p 4.71%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Drax Group (DRX) 748.00p -3.98%
Quilter (QLT) 116.35p -2.84%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 51.15p -2.66%
Telecom Plus (TEP) 2,135.00p -2.51%
Wood Group (John) (WG.) 152.60p -2.15%
Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 114.40p -2.14%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 80.10p -1.72%
Provident Financial (PFG) 191.40p -1.14%
Network International Holdings (NETW) 201.40p -1.08%
Polymetal International (POLY) 203.50p -0.73%