FTSE 250 movers: Domino's serves up tasty update; Countrywide tanks again

London’s FTSE 250 was down 0.4% to 17,546.37 in afternoon trade.

Domino’s Pizza was in demand after serving up an upbeat update, announcing plans to increase its long-term target for expanding its UK store presence and reiterating its guidance for 2016 pre-tax profit.

The company said that given the continued strong new store performance and positive outlook for its market and the brand, it is upping its target for the UK to 1,600 stores from 1,200 previously.

Domino’s expects to operate around 950 stores by the end of this year and outside the UK, it has identified opportunities for a total of 400 stores, up from around 100 at the end of 2016, excluding the German joint venture.

Travel company Thomas Cook was also a high riser as Barclays upgraded the stock to ‘overweight’ from ‘equalweight’ and upped the price target to 90p from 75p following the company’s full-year results on Wednesday.

It said the absence of any earnings per share downgrades, the re-introduction of the dividend and proactive actions to improve Condor profits suggest Thomas Cook may have reached an inflection point.

On the downside, Countrywide tumbled as it issued its second profit warning this year, saying core earnings for 2016 would take a hit as a result of the UK’s vote to leave the European Union. The stock had already fallen sharply on Wednesday after Chancellor Philip Hammond unveiled a clampdown on estate agent lettings fees. Peer Rightmove was also under the cosh.

Paragon Group of Companies declined as Bank of America Merrill Lynch downgraded it to ‘underperform’ from ‘neutral’.

“Paragon is pivoting its business model dramatically, evolving from a non-bank, securitised funded, monoline lender into a retail funded, diversified banking group. While we fully support the strategic logic of management’s actions and believe that they are executing extremely well, the transition is not cost free and substantial uncertainties within the environment remain.”

Pets at Home was in the dog house as it reported that same-store sales growth slowed down in the first half compared to the first quarter and the company said trading since the H1 stage has been softer.

UDG Healthcare also fell despite posting a rise in profit and revenue for the year to the end of September.

TalkTalk and Tate & Lyle were weaker as their stocks went ex-dividend.

Risers

Domino's Pizza Group (DOM) 339.50p 2.91%
Marshalls (MSLH) 297.50p 2.69%
Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 81.05p 2.59%
Rank Group (RNK) 206.10p 2.44%
Mitie Group (MTO) 206.00p 2.23%
Big Yellow Group (BYG) 669.50p 2.21%
Cobham (COB) 166.20p 2.09%
LondonMetric Property (LMP) 145.50p 1.82%
Tullett Prebon (TLPR) 428.60p 1.81%
Workspace Group (WKP) 682.50p 1.64%

Fallers

Countrywide (CWD) 169.90p -12.38%
Paragon Group Of Companies (PAG) 348.70p -5.88%
Pets at Home Group (PETS) 220.20p -5.70%
Evraz (EVR) 258.50p -4.61%
UDG Healthcare Public Limited Company (UDG) 628.50p -4.56%
TalkTalk Telecom Group (TALK) 154.80p -4.44%
Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) 246.50p -3.82%
Tate & Lyle (TATE) 668.00p -3.68%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 206.70p -3.37%
Rightmove (RMV) 3,782.00p -3.08%