FTSE 250 movers: On the Beach's day in the sun, RHI Magnesita's mettle tested

London's second-tier index was up by 0.64% at 20,450.11 on Thursday, led by On The Beach and Marshalls.

The online travel agency rose as it announced the £20m acquisition of Classic Collection Holidays, a specialist in selling package luxury beach holidays through a network of third party offline travel agencies. On The Beach said it continues to expect adjusted pre-tax profit for the year to be in line with management's expectations, even if ignoring the contribution from Classic Collection, which last year made underlying operating profits of £2.6m.

Broker Numis said OTB's shares have fallen by 37% since its interims in May, perhaps as investors expected a profit warning, which this statement dispels. "Today's acquisition demonstrates management's ambition to expand its addressable market leveraging its existing tech capabilities."

Landscaping products outfit Marshalls stacked up healthy gains after reported interim profits up 12% to £32.5m as revenue grew 12% even with the 'Beast from the East' hitting sales by £9m. Despite wider political and economic uncertainty, the underlying indicators remain positive in Marshalls' end markets,” the company said, adding that positive cash generation has continued in the period and it was on track to meet full year expectations

Hochschild Mining was among the top risers as it bounced back to where it was before losses the day earlier. Moreover, the gold miner garnered attention from Numis, as the broker upgraded its recommendation to 'buy' with a target price of 210p. Analysts said that Wednesday's interim results were "strong and we expect full year operations to be at the better end of guidance, or above", as pre-tax profit from continuing operations rose to $54.9m from $38.6m due to record production at its Inmaculada mine.

Bank of Georgia muscled higher after reporting a profit before non-recurring items and income tax of GEL 120.0m in the second quarter, up 31.0% year-on-year and 7.9% quarter-on-quarter. The loan book expanded 24% to GEL 8.1bn but the net interest margin of 6.9% was down from 7.0% due to a mix shift to higher quality assets.

After releasing strong first-half results a day earlier, Hikma Pharmaceuticals rose further in Thursday trading after the company was lifted to 'add' from 'hold' at Peel Hunt, where the broker upped its target price to 1,950p. "The increase in our target price is the result of our higher forecasts, the recovery of the generics peers multiples since our last update, and the reintroduction of UK healthcare peers into our blended peer average multiples methodology," analysts said in a note.

Refractory products maker RHI Magnesita was the biggest faller in afternoon trade despite reassuring investors that it could weather the storm of upcoming tariffs in its half-year results. The company saw earnings before interest, tax and amortisation increased to €229m from €62m, while revenue rose 24.6% to €1.5bn as higher prices and volume growth in its steel and industrial divisions offset higher input costs.

"Whilst geopolitical challenges could impact the second half and beyond, we believe our geographically diversified production bases and broad customer profile will insulate the group to a large extent," said chief executive Stefan Borgas.

Moneysupermarket.com was on the back foot in afternoon trading following reports that Amazon is considering the creation of an insurance comparison website for the UK. The online retail giant had already discussed such plans with three industry executives, Reuters reported, although one of the sources said no launch was imminent, while another said the talks were part of broader discussions with insurers.

Gambling company Rank saw its shares slump after it recorded a 41% drop in full-year pre-tax profit. Revenue for the company's Grosvenor brand declined by 6.1% with an accelerated fall in the second half, with operating profit down 6.7%, while Mecca's turnover fell 2.6% in the year as customer visits dropped 7.9%.

Chief executive John O'Reilly, who joined after an April profit warning, characterised the full-year as "disappointing", and said: "we are now moving quickly to identify the key priorities which will begin to realise the significant underlying potential that I have now seen first-hand".

Market Movers

FTSE 250 (MCX) 20,450.11 0.64%

FTSE 250 - Risers

On The Beach Group (OTB) 473.50p 15.07%
Marshalls (MSLH) 479.60p 13.54%
Premier Oil (PMO) 114.99p 5.88%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 171.90p 5.85%
Bank of Georgia Group (BGEO) 1,744.40p 4.46%
Drax Group (DRX) 381.96p 4.36%
Syncona Limited NPV (SYNC) 280.38p 3.46%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 1,799.00p 3.09%
Dunelm Group (DNLM) 508.18p 2.95%
Fisher (James) & Sons (FSJ) 1,804.00p 2.85%