FTSE 250 movers: Virgin Money flies higher, Man Group shunned

The FTSE 250 was just in the green in afternoon trading on Tuesday, amid a raft of corporate earnings releases.

Virgin Money was enjoying a prime position after reporting strong growth during the first half of the year, beating many analyst's expectations, but with the economic outlook more cautious the company slightly softened its net interest margin (NIM) guidance. Total income in the half-year to 30 June was up 14% to £290m, with adjusted pre-tax profit increasing 53% to £102m. This was thanks to the underlying return on tangible equity increasing by 2.7 percentage points to 12.2% versus the prior year as the cost-to-income ratio reduced by almost 10 points to 58.8%. The board declared an interim dividend of 1.6p per share.

SEGRO was also surging after it posted results for the six months to 30 June, reporting a 43% increase in new annualised gross rent commitments in the half year to £21.5m. Adjusted earnings per share were up 6.5% to 9.8p, underpinned by a 4.1% increase in like-for-like net rental income, a continued low vacancy rate at 4.8% and strong income from development completions. IFRS earnings per share were lower at 25.9p including the impact of unrealised capital gains on the portfolio however, down from 44.4p a year ago. SEGRO’s board said this was lower due mainly to stable property investment yields on our investment portfolio.

The company also announced on Tuesday that it has appointed Soumen Das as its chief financial officer. 39-year-old Das is currently the managing director and chief financial officer of Capital & Counties Properties, which he joined as its finance director in 2010 upon its demerger from Intu. Capco was among the biggest losers in afternoon trading on Tuesday.

Hedge fund Man Group sat near the bottom of the index, having reported a slump in pre-tax profit and funds under management for the first half amid tough trading conditions. For the six months ended 30 June, statutory pre-tax profit tumbled to $55m from $163m in the same period last year, while funds under management declined to $76.4bn from $78.8bn. Meanwhile, performance fees fell to $42m from $231m and the company said the first half of the year had been particularly challenging for the global investment management industry amid highly volatile financial markets. Still, Man said it had net inflows of $1bn versus net outflows of $2.6bn in the first half of 2015.

Convenience food manufacturer Greencore was also well into the red even though its third quarter revenues increased by 4% driven by the company’s Food to Go business while it expects no short-term effects from Brexit. In a trading update the company said revenue increased by 4% to £360.4m for the 13 weeks ending 24 June, and an increase of 3.1 % in constant currency. For the year to date, revenue increased by 6.7% on the year prior to £1,052m and an increase of 5.9% on a constant currency basis.

FTSE 250 - Risers

Virgin Money Holdings (UK) (VM.) 263.70p 7.76%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 244.40p 7.71%
Ibstock (IBST) 157.30p 5.57%
OneSavings Bank (OSB) 209.50p 3.71%
SEGRO (SGRO) 435.90p 3.54%
Diploma (DPLM) 871.50p 3.20%
Auto Trader Group (AUTO) 358.80p 2.25%
CYBG (CYBG) 256.50p 2.23%
Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 60.25p 2.12%
LondonMetric Property (LMP) 160.10p 2.10%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Man Group (EMG) 113.60p -7.19%
Capital & Counties Properties (CAPC) 284.00p -4.18%
Countryside Properties (CSP) 222.80p -3.76%
Countrywide (CWD) 234.80p -2.89%
Restaurant Group (RTN) 319.80p -2.50%
Greencore Group (GNC) 313.60p -2.46%
Victrex plc (VCT) 1,540.00p -2.35%
Savills (SVS) 666.50p -2.27%
Entertainment One Limited (ETO) 195.40p -2.10%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 196.50p -2.04%