FTSE 250 movers: Ladbrokes up after maintaining dividend, Playtech achieves record revenue and earnings

Ladbrokes was boosted as it revealed it will not cut its 2015 dividend, despite posting a 14% drop in annual profit. Analysts had expected the group to make the cut to help fund marketing expenses, but the group will maintain an 8.9p dividend per share this year.

In December, the group began a search to replace outgoing chief executive Richard Glynn with a figure capable of leading a greater push online. “We are increasingly confident that online can deliver underlying growth in the current year given the momentum it exited the period,” analysts at Shore Capital said in a note.

Synthomer was among the risers after beating analyst expectations with its full-year results. The chemicals outfit also announced increased the final dividend of 4.8p plus a special dividend of 7.8p per share, bringing the total dividend for the year to 15.6p

Support services and construction group Interserve was also trading higher following a year of strong growth, despite challenges from improved demand and increased supply chain pressures. Revenues were up 21% to £970.7m and the group increased its dividend by 7% to 15.5p, a reflection of growing confidence.

Playtech was making gains after achieving record annual revenue and earnings on the back of acquisitions and partnerships. Sales were up 24% at €475m in 2014.

Meanwhile, Premier Oil took a hit as it suspended its dividend for the full year after swinging from a profit to a loss due to the fall in oil prices. The group said that it would not be prudent to propose a dividend payment when it should focus on preserving cash and maintaining access to liquidity, following worse-than-expected results.

Risers
RPS Group (RPS) 266.10p +10.41%
Interserve (IRV) 605.00p +8.62%
Countrywide (CWD) 546.50p +6.95%
Ladbrokes (LAD) 120.10p +5.17%
Synthomer (SYNT) 282.90p +4.51%
Playtech (PTEC) 770.00p +4.34%
Domino's Pizza Group (DOM) 722.50p +4.33%
Serco Group (SRP) 230.20p +4.12%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 602.50p +3.79%
Drax Group (DRX) 425.90p +3.42%

Fallers
Beazley (BEZ) 289.80p -8.72%
AO World (AO.) 179.10p -6.72%
Enterprise Inns (ETI) 102.70p -4.91%
Bwin.party Digital Entertainment (BPTY) 82.05p -3.87%
Spire Healthcare Group (SPI) 314.10p -3.65%
Telecom Plus (TEP) 1,059.00p -3.64%
Ted Baker (TED) 2,506.00p -2.41%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 202.00p -2.18%
Barr (A.G.) (BAG) 667.00p -2.06%
Premier Oil (PMO) 170.60p -1.90%