FTSE 250 movers: Homeserve rallies on final results; Paragon slides

London’s FTSE 250 index was up 0.5% to 17,109.29 in afternoon trading.

Repair and insurance company Homeserve was the standout gainer after it posted a rise in profit for the year to the end of March as revenue and customer numbers grew.

Adjusted pre-tax profit rose 9% from 2015 to £93m on revenue of £633.2m, up from £584.2m.

Profit was a little better than the £91.6m analysts had pencilled in.

Meanwhile, the total number of customers increased 11% to 7m, with over a third of the group’s customers now outside the UK.

Halfords was also in the black after acquiring Swansea online bike sellers Tredz and Wheelies Direct for at least £18.4m cash.

The bikes and car accessories retail chain, which made the purchase using its existing borrowing facilities, said the acquisition will be earnings-enhancing from the first year of ownership.

Provider of mortgages and personal loans Paragon Group of Companies was on the back foot as the 12.5% increase in underlying profits to £71.9m it reported for the first half fell a little short of analysts’ expectations.

Aveva was also under the cosh after saying full-year pre-tax profits at the marine engineering software maker almost halved to £29.4m on the back of lower revenue and one-off exceptional costs related to the aborted merger with Schneider Electric.

Card Factory fell after saying like-for-like sales growth slowed as a reduction in footfall at it stores offset continuing growth in average spend per customer.

Revenue increased by 6.5% in the quarter ending 30 April, down from the 8% growth last year and the 7.5% rate in the same period a year ago.

Keller Group was weaker despite the ground engineering specialist announcing that its numbers were ahead of last year in year-to-date trading.

Risers

Homeserve (HSV) 460.30p 6.72%
Brown (N.) Group (BWNG) 252.60p 4.68%
Auto Trader Group (AUTO) 400.70p 4.46%
Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 285.10p 3.86%
Pendragon (PDG) 41.67p 3.66%
Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) 289.10p 2.99%
Halfords Group (HFD) 443.40p 2.57%
Ibstock (IBST) 217.30p 2.50%
Crest Nicholson Holdings (CRST) 600.50p 2.47%
Grafton Group Units (GFTU) 742.00p 2.34%

Fallers

Paragon Group Of Companies (PAG) 305.90p -5.56%
Aveva Group (AVV) 1,519.00p -5.06%
Card Factory (CARD) 361.80p -5.04%
Keller Group (KLR) 930.50p -4.07%
Dairy Crest Group (DCG) 555.50p -3.98%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 108.70p -2.86%
Intermediate Capital Group (ICP) 653.50p -2.61%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 204.50p -2.11%
Allied Minds (ALM) 328.00p -2.09%
Redefine International (RDI) 44.17p -2.06%