FTSE 250 movers: Pennon, PageGroup push higher

London’s FTSE 250 was down 1.3% at 18,034.06 in afternoon trade on Monday.

Online greeting cards and gifts retailer Moonpig was the standout gainer on the index.

Pennon rallied after saying it traded in line with expectations in its first half and that it submitted plans to Ofwat to invest £2.8bn in water quality and resilience.

The investment, for South West Water, relates to the K8 period between 2025 and 2030, and will create 2,000 jobs along with 1,000 apprenticeships and graduates.

Recruiter PageGroup was trading higher after an upgrade to ‘hold’ from ‘underperform’ at Jefferies.

"Although perm activity is more vulnerable to an economic slowdown, and we believe consensus EPS is overoptimistic, we are mindful that long-term risk/reward has altered post the recent CMD (Capital Markets Day)," the bank said.

It lifted its price target on the shares to 420p from 375p.

FTSE 250 - Risers

Moonpig Group (MOON) 170.50p 4.47%
Pennon Group (PNN) 605.50p 3.33%
Digital 9 Infrastructure NPV (DGI9) 39.90p 3.10%
Apax Global Alpha Limited (APAX) 166.60p 2.59%
FirstGroup (FGP) 154.80p 2.58%
NB Private Equity Partners Ltd. (NBPE) 1,622.00p 2.53%
Essentra (ESNT) 165.80p 2.47%
Caledonia Investments (CLDN) 3,435.00p 2.23%
Helios Towers (HTWS) 74.95p 2.11%
Pagegroup (PAGE) 427.40p 1.96%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Darktrace (DARK) 383.20p -5.01%
Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings (AML) 275.80p -3.50%
Wood Group (John) (WG.) 151.00p -2.77%
Close Brothers Group (CBG) 861.50p -2.77%
OSB Group (OSB) 318.40p -2.75%
HGCapital Trust (HGT) 379.00p -2.57%
Liontrust Asset Management (LIO) 591.50p -2.55%
Petershill Partners (PHLL) 147.20p -2.52%
Bridgepoint Group (Reg S) (BPT) 187.90p -2.44%
Investec (INVP) 470.10p -2.41%