FTSE 250 movers: Redrow stock booms while Sophos Group slumps

Leading the index was Redrow, after the housebuilder reported a jump in pre-tax profit for the full year as revenue grew and the company lifted its dividend.

For the year to the end of June, pre-tax profit was up 23% to £250m on revenue of £1.38bn, up 20% from the year before and the company hikes its full-year dividend to 10p from 6p.

Legal completions rose 17% to 4,716, spurred by the Help to Buy scheme, and the owned and contracted land bank at the end of June was up 43% to 26,000 plots.

Numis said the full-year results were good, with pre-tax profit of £250m marginally ahead of the brokerage’s £247m forecast, while current trading is strong.

“Whilst Redrow's shares have recovered much of the reduction seen post Brexit and now only trade around 10% below 23/06, they still look good value. Furthermore, we believe that the lower end of consensus expectations looks too low and will need to move up significantly for the current year.”

Retailer Sports Direct was also rocketing ahead, after asked law firm Reynolds Porter Chamberlain (RPC) on Tuesday to lead a further comprehensive review of working practices at the retailer.

The FTSE 250 listed company initially asked the law firm to investigate and review working practices at Sports Direct in the last 90 days, after an investigation by the Guardian in July uncovered that workers were on zero hours contracts were being paid less than minimum wage in its warehouse.

Its founder and largest shareholder, Mike Ashley also faced a grilling from MPs at a parliamentary select committee where they compared the retailer’s employment practices and conditions to a “Victorian workhouse”.

Sophos Group was on its way down after its stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by analysts at Deutsche Bank in a note issued to investors on Tuesday.

The bank placed a 290p price objective on the stock, which pointed to a potential upside of 12.93% from the company’s current price.

Also on the way down after a research report was Computacenter, which had its target price cut by Credit Suisse Group to 1,000p, from 1,020p, in a report published on Friday.

They had an outperform rating on the stock at the time.

FTSE 250 - Risers

Redrow (RDW) 411.50p 7.08%
Sports Direct International (SPD) 353.20p 6.29%
Renishaw (RSW) 2,737.00p 3.60%
Crest Nicholson Holdings (CRST) 487.70p 2.74%
Elementis (ELM) 220.10p 2.52%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 321.50p 2.42%
CLS Holdings (CLI) 1,566.00p 2.42%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 270.00p 2.12%
Booker Group (BOK) 184.00p 2.00%
Debenhams (DEB) 62.15p 1.97%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Grainger (GRI) 227.30p -3.56%
IP Group (IPO) 188.00p -2.74%
Computacenter (CCC) 723.00p -2.69%
Sophos Group (SOPH) 250.10p -2.61%
Greencore Group (GNC) 355.50p -2.50%
Spire Healthcare Group (SPI) 362.50p -1.81%
Allied Minds (ALM) 326.40p -1.78%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 228.00p -1.77%
DFS Furniture (DFS) 267.90p -1.72%
JPMorgan Indian Investment Trust (JII) 650.50p -1.66%