FTSE 250 movers: Allied Minds surges but Marshalls slumps on update

London’s FTSE 250 was down 0.4% to 16,785.29 in afternoon trading.

Marshalls tumbled after the landscape products group reported a slowdown in revenue growth in a trading update for the four months ended 30 April.

The company said revenue for the period was up 1% to £120m against strong comparatives for 2015, reflecting a slight softening in commercial sales over the last two months.

Marshalls said it has maintained its market share although some customer projects have been delayed due to short-term uncertainty in the wider economy.

N+1 Singer said: “It looks like they have been impacted to some extent by Brexit uncertainty with decision-making on projects delayed but still confident of hitting FY expectations assisted by margin performance.

Defence and aerospace engineer Meggitt was under the cosh after Panmure Gordon downgraded it to ‘sell’’ from ‘hold’ and cut its price target to 325p from 363p.

It noted the shares have recovered 15% since the profit warning last October and management has boosted the rate of investment to counter the profit decline.

However, Panmure expects further profit warnings and reckons the two main sources of expected profit growth – advanced composites and aircraft braking systems – will fall short.

On the upside, Allied Minds was the top gainer after its subsidiary, Federated Wireless Inc, said it has officially begun the certification process with the Federal Communications Commission for its Spectrum Access System.

Food wholesale operator Booker was a high riser after Goldman Sachs upgraded the stock to ‘buy’ from ‘neutral’ and lifted the price target to 198p from 171p ahead of the company’s full-year results on Thursday.

Goldman pointed out that Booker has been the worst performing stock in its coverage year-to-date, down 9% versus the pan-European food retail average up 6% despite small earnings upgrades.

“With its capital-light model, Booker is the most cash generative stock in our pan-European food retail coverage,” said GS.

“Importantly, it has a strong track record of capital allocation, either making acquisitions with short cash payback periods, or returning excess capital to shareholders via special dividends.”

Travel food and beverage operator SSP Group advanced after it revealed impressive first-half growth, with operating profit up 28% at constant currency and 22.6% at actual exchange rates to £30.9m in the six months to 31 March.

Gambling software developer Playtech gained ground as investors gathered for its annual general meeting, with chairman Alan Jackson speaking of the company’s momentum continuing into the current financial year.

“Growth in daily average revenues in the gaming division in 2016 remains in line with the growth experienced in the first 53 days of the year as reported at the time of the 2015 full-year results in February,” Jackson said.

Risers

Allied Minds (ALM) 338.00p 7.57%
Booker Group (BOK) 175.60p 6.49%
Ophir Energy (OPHR) 71.45p 5.31%
Shawbrook Group (SHAW) 277.70p 5.03%
Pendragon (PDG) 35.94p 3.63%
SSP Group (SSPG) 310.40p 3.47%
CLS Holdings (CLI) 1,639.00p 2.44%
Sophos Group (SOPH) 228.00p 2.29%
Dunelm Group (DNLM) 938.50p 2.18%
Playtech (PTEC) 830.50p 2.15%

Fallers

Marshalls (MSLH) 322.40p -7.06%
Meggitt (MGGT) 387.40p -4.04%
Greencore Group (GNC) 369.30p -3.53%
Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 153.80p -3.51%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 114.60p -3.13%
Acacia Mining (ACA) 337.90p -3.12%
Entertainment One Limited (ETO) 169.00p -2.65%
Cobham (COB) 160.70p -2.49%
Balfour Beatty (BBY) 238.10p -2.38%
Amec Foster Wheeler (AMFW) 458.90p -2.13%