FTSE 250 movers: Renishaw bounces back, Serco sapped by HSBC downgrade

The FTSE 250 rose steadily on Thursday, in parallel with most equity indices worldwide. By mid afternoon the UK's mid-cap index was up 0.63% at 16,671.7 points.

Leading the pack was metrology and engineering company Renishaw, despite having posted a drop in sales and profit for the first quarter and said it expected full-year revenue to be below previous guidance. Since late on Tuesday, shares in the company had fallen in anticipation of bad results, with the actual figures better than expected.

WH Smith was another strong riser, with the books, magazines and stationary retailer posting a rise in annual pre-tax profit on the back of a good performance across the group, in particularly its travel business, which is focused on airports and railway stations in particular providing a boost.

Hedge fund manager Man Group also impressed with results for the third quarter, showing off total funds under management (FUM) of $76.8bn at 30 September 2015 up 2.5% from the $78.8bn at the half-year stage. The company sailed happily through the volatile stock markets of the recent months as its quantitative fund and discretionary strategies attracted investors and helped the company enjoy net inflows during the period.

Leading the fallers was outsourcing Serco, which was downgraded to a 'reduce' rating by analysts at HSBC, who said the government's proposed 'living wage' "adds another tier of unknowns to the Serco story, and considerable risks to the margin upside".

Card Factory and Spectris were among those companies going ex-dividend on Thursday.

FTSE 250 - Risers

Renishaw (RSW) 2,012.00p 6.46%
WH Smith (SMWH) 1,624.00p 5.39%
Brown (N.) Group (BWNG) 353.50p 3.97%
Man Group (EMG) 156.40p 3.44%
DCC (DCC) 4,954.00p 3.40%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Serco Group (SRP) 100.30p -4.39%
Card Factory (CARD) 356.40p -4.01%
Petra Diamonds Ltd.(DI) (PDL) 94.80p -3.31%
Spectris (SXS) 1,713.00p -2.17%
Allied Minds (ALM) 421.10p -2.07%