FTSE 250 movers: Helios Towers up as losses narrow; Serco cashes in on immigration spending

Shares in Helios Towers topped the FTSE 250 as the company reported an 18% rise in organic revenue from increased tenancies on its mobile phone masts towers and inflation-linked contracts.

It also upgraded cash profit and portfolio free cash guidance by 1%. Pre-tax losses in the six months to June 30 narrowed to $39.4m from $122.2m a year ago.

Tritax Big Box REIT announced the sale of an investment asset let to Howdens.

The £84.3m sale to the institutional real estate investor was in line with its December 2022 and June 2023 valuations for a net initial yield of 4.0%.

"The disposal, which was in line with the book value at both December 2022 and June 2023, demonstrates the attractiveness of our assets and our ability to fully realise their value," said Colin Godfrey, Tritax's chief executive officer.

"The sale to a leading institutional investor in real estate provides further evidence of growing stabilisation within the UK investment market and the strong fundamentals of the sector."

The 659,000 square foot logistics building at Raunds was one of three developed and built for Howdens Joinery.

It had an unexpired lease term at exchange of roughly 23 years.

Outsourcing giant Serco gained as profits were boosted by £804m worth of immigration and justice spending by governments around the world in the first half of the year.

Group's underlying operating profit rose 9% to £148m in the six months to 30 June. Total revenues climbed 11% to nearly £2.5bn.

FTSE 250 (MCX) 18,828.69 0.08%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Helios Towers (HTWS) 89.90p 7.02%
OSB Group (OSB) 373.40p 4.48%
Pantheon International (PIN) 269.50p 4.46%
Vanquis Banking Group 20 (VANQ) 128.80p 4.38%
Tritax Big Box Reit (BBOX) 140.40p 3.69%
Primary Health Properties (PHP) 95.55p 2.69%
Shaftesbury Capital (SHC) 119.60p 2.57%
Harbour Energy (HBR) 257.20p 2.43%
Serco Group (SRP) 158.70p 2.26%
Spirent Communications (SPT) 155.40p 2.17%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Jupiter Fund Management (JUP) 107.00p -4.12%
Moneysupermarket.com Group (MONY) 256.00p -4.05%
Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings (AML) 361.00p -3.99%
Mobico Group (MCG) 86.75p -3.18%
Telecom Plus (TEP) 1,606.00p -3.02%
TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 584.00p -2.83%
Bank of Georgia Group (BGEO) 3,100.00p -2.67%
Tyman (TYMN) 303.00p -2.42%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 84.85p -2.30%
Drax Group (DRX) 572.20p -2.22%