FTSE 250 movers: Strong trading leads Supergroup to top of the pack

The FTSE 250 was on track to finish the day in the green on Wednesday, up 78.47 points (0.46%) to 17,078.03 by mid-afternoon.

Supergroup led the risers after it released its half year report, showing strong trading leading to positive sales growth. The owner of popular faux-Japanese fashion brand Superdry saw revenue rise 22.3% to £254.7m in the 26 weeks to October 24. Underlying profit before tax was up a sizeable 54.4% to £19.3m. Excluding North America, it increased 73.6%. Basic earnings per share were up to 20p, from 11.9p, on an underlying basis. Its reported basic earnings per share were just 10.2p, however, down from 17.2p last year. In the report, SuperGroup said this reflected the period-on-period remeasurement of financial derivatives, as well as "exceptional items" related to the North America licence buy-out.

Bwin.party was also up on the back of Citi upgrading the stock from ‘sell’ to ‘buy’. It follows GVC Holdings' takeover of bwin.party digital entertainment being approved by the companies’ shareholders on Tuesday. Bwin.party said 99.99 per cent of shareholders voted in favour of the deal, while 99.91 of GVC's did the same. Both firms said the deal is expected to become effective on February 1st 2016, with admission of GVC’s shares to the Official List of the London Stock Exchange.

N Brown Group was the biggest faller of the day down nearly 7%. N+1 Singer trimmed its sales forcasts for the full year after an unseasonally warm start to the Autumn/Winter trading period. As a result, it reduced its full year above consensus profit before tax forecast by 3.4% and outer years by 2%. “We still believe that the ongoing channel shift to online is favouring N Brown (and others like boohoo) and that N Brown has traded well on receivables growth and margins,” the report said. It comes after women’s value retailer Bonmarche warned over its full year profits due to challenging conditions in December that haven’t normalised. That also forced department store Debenhams to take a hit and featuring in the top 10 fallers.

FTSE 250 - Risers

Supergroup (SGP) 1,639.00p 8.11%
Drax Group (DRX) 225.10p 6.78%
Acacia Mining (ACA) 168.10p 6.46%
Bwin.party Digital Entertainment (BPTY) 123.60p 5.91%
Petra Diamonds Ltd.(DI) (PDL) 71.50p 5.15%
AA (AA.) 300.20p 5.11%
Bodycote (BOY) 551.00p 4.95%
Aldermore Group (ALD) 214.90p 4.57%
Shawbrook Group (SHAW) 344.30p 4.33%
Carillion (CLLN) 310.70p 4.12%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Brown (N.) Group (BWNG) 299.40p -6.76%
Nostrum Oil & Gas (NOG) 359.20p -4.97%
Tullett Prebon (TLPR) 341.60p -4.53%
Dignity (DTY) 2,361.00p -3.48%
Indivior (INDV) 184.90p -3.19%
Debenhams (DEB) 73.55p -3.16%
Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 90.00p -2.96%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 281.10p -2.56%
Home Retail Group (HOME) 94.65p -2.07%
DCC (DCC) 5,545.00p -1.86%