FTSE 250 movers: Airlines fly higher; Ashmore in the red

dl easyjet easy jet airline aircraft plane travel pd — easyJetSharecast / public domain image

London’s FTSE 250 was down 1.3% at 17,756.28 in afternoon trade on Monday.

Budget airlines easyJet and Wizz Air flew higher after Ryanair said it will pay its first ever dividend and posted a 59% jump in first-half profit after tax to €2.18bn. It pointed to a strong Easter in the first quarter, record summer traffic and higher fares.

EasyJet also got a boost after the Information Commissioner’s Office confirmed on Sunday that it had dropped an investigation into a hack that affected millions of customers

Foreign exchange processing specialist CAB Payments gained even as its shareholders were said to be urging regulatory authorities to investigate potentially misleading information in its initial public offering (IPO) prospectus.

According to The Times, the IPO endorsed by JPMorgan and Barclays faced scrutiny after the firm issued a profit warning just four months after floating.

The Times said that among those raising concerns about the IPO’s prospectus were investment funds RC Brown and Polar Capital, which count themselves among the top 20 shareholders in CAB Payments.

Emerging markets asset manager Ashmore Group was the worst performer on the index.

FTSE 250 - Risers

easyJet (EZJ) 406.70p 3.96%
North Atlantic Smaller Companies Inv Trust (NAS) 3,650.00p 3.11%
Digital 9 Infrastructure NPV (DGI9) 47.50p 2.81%
CAB Payments Holdings (CABP) 70.10p 2.79%
Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 1,868.00p 2.27%
Darktrace (DARK) 355.70p 1.89%
Lancashire Holdings Limited (LRE) 600.00p 1.87%
Foresight Group Holdings Limited NPV (FSG) 404.00p 1.76%
Bank of Georgia Group (BGEO) 3,505.00p 1.74%
Pantheon International (PIN) 297.00p 1.54%