FTSE 250 movers: RHI Magnesita soars; FDM Group slips on warning

Global supplier of refractory products and systems RHI Magnesita shares gained after interim results, despite challenging conditions, with low demand volumes in the steel market in all geographies except India.

However, improved pricing and strong contribution from recent acquisitions, offset these headwinds, which resulted in a strong revenue and earnings performance.

Window and door components maker Tyman after Berenberg upgraded the stock on Wednesday to ‘buy’ from ‘hold’ and hiked the price target to 360p from 250p after the company’s first-half results a day earlier.

Gold miner Centamin gained as it held annual guidance after a rise in first-half profits.

The company posted revenue generation of $426m from gold sales of 219,353 ounces at an average realised gold price of $1,936 per ounce. Core earnings rose 26% to $193m.

Centamin's main asset, the Sukari Gold Mine in Egypt, produced 220,561 ounces and was on track to meet 2023 guidance, the company said.

Luxury car maker Aston Martin Lagonda narrowed losses and maintained annual guidance as strong demand boosted revenue.

FDM Group reported a jump in half-term revenues on Wednesday, but warned that market conditions had deteriorated.

The recruitment firm, which specialises in recruiting, training and deploying IT consultants, said revenues rose 18% in the six months to 30 June, to £179.9m, while adjusted operating profits were 2% higher at £25.5m.

Pre-tax profits increased 34% to £29.8m, boosted by a share-based payment credit during the period.

FDM said it had made a good start to the year, but that market conditions had "weakened" through the second quarter.

In particular, it said global macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty was continuing to disrupt the buying patterns of some clients, along with weakness in the banking and finance sector.

Rod Flavell, chief executive, said: "We delivered a resilient performance against a backdrop of uncertain market conditions, with some clients delaying and deferring decisions about budget commitment and consultant placement.

"Our scalable and flexible business model has allowed us to take the appropriate measures to adjust recruitment, training and our unallocated resource to align more closely with the varying demand with our consultants.

"There remain structural and systemic skills shortages in all the geographies in which we operate.

"We remain optimistic there will be an improvement in client confidence as the second half progresses, and the board anticipates that the group’s financial performance for the year as a whole will be broadly in line with expectations."

FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,135.16 -0.08%

FTSE 250 - Risers

RHI Magnesita N.V. (DI) (RHIM) 3,074.00p 7.11%
Tyman (TYMN) 315.00p 5.70%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 97.65p 4.38%
Moneysupermarket.com Group (MONY) 266.80p 3.65%
Lancashire Holdings Limited (LRE) 627.50p 3.55%
Bridgepoint Group (Reg S) (BPT) 197.00p 3.41%
Babcock International Group (BAB) 402.80p 3.28%
Ascential (ASCL) 215.40p 3.16%
Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings (AML) 349.40p 2.70%
Primary Health Properties (PHP) 97.15p 2.70%