FTSE 250 movers: PageGroup rallies on update; Booker slumps

London's FTSE 250 was up 0.4% to 19,375.74 in afternoon trade as investors mulled a mixed UK jobs report and looked ahead to the long Easter weekend.

Recruiter PageGroup racked up strong gains after it posted a record first-quarter gross profit. Overall, gross profits for the period jumped 9.1% to a record £142.2m at constant currency levels.

Peer Hays was also on the front, mostly likely on read-across but also ahead of its trading update for the quarter to the end of March on Thursday.

Oilfield services group Hunting gushed higher after it revealed that while sentiment throughout the industry remains "fragile", revenues in the first three months of the year have been ahead of management's expectations.

The company reported underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of approximately $5.5m.

Engineer Meggitt got a boost as Bank of America Merrill Lynch upgraded the stock to 'buy' from 'neutral' and lifted the price target to 530p from 490p.

The bank said it sees an attractive cash improvement story through to 2020, driven by gradual margin improvement and stabilisation in fixed/tangible investment.

Merrill said it sees around £304m of free cash flow to equity in 2020, which would correspond to an 8.7% free cash flow yield, which it reckons is attractive versus the civil aerospace peer group average of 7% in 2020.

Shares in cash-and-carry and convenience group Booker retreated as more questions popped up around Tesco's proposed acquisition.

Retailer WH Smith was in the red despite saying that it grew profits 4% in the first half of the year as sales from its travel arm more than offset continued decline of the high street business.

FTSE 250 - Risers

Pagegroup (PAGE) 473.10p 6.58%
Ibstock (IBST) 208.70p 4.19%
Hays (HAS) 168.60p 3.69%
Hunting (HTG) 607.00p 3.41%
JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 453.70p 3.09%
Amec Foster Wheeler (AMFW) 587.00p 2.98%
Cobham (COB) 142.00p 2.82%
IMI (IMI) 1,227.00p 2.76%
Meggitt (MGGT) 458.60p 2.62%
Wood Group (John) (WG.) 825.00p 2.42%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Vedanta Resources (VED) 774.00p -5.38%
Booker Group (BOK) 192.40p -4.85%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 160.90p -4.05%
Evraz (EVR) 218.10p -4.05%
Homeserve (HSV) 632.50p -2.09%
Nostrum Oil & Gas (NOG) 462.30p -2.06%
Aldermore Group (ALD) 227.80p -1.85%
WH Smith (SMWH) 1,792.00p -1.81%
Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 460.00p -1.73%
Sanne Group (SNN) 723.50p -1.63%