FTSE 250 movers: TBC Bank on the up, 888 Holdings slumps

The FTSE 250 was up 0.26% at 20,297.84 at 1520 BST.

Shares in UK gambling firm 888 Holdings slumped after the company reported a sharp fall in interim profit on Friday, as the cost-of-living crisis and tougher online gambling safety rules hit the bottom line.

Pre-tax profit for the six-months to June 30 fell 66% to £14.4m from £41.9m last year. Revenue fell to £332.1m from £381m.

888 was also hit by higher costs associated with the purchase of William Hill’s international assets, and expenses related to the disposal of its bingo business.

"Revenue in the second half of 2022 is expected to be in line with revenue in the first half of 2022," the company said.

"In the second half of 2022, our main focus is on integration (William Hill), delivering on our synergy plans, and driving higher profitability across the business," said chief executive Itai Pazner.

Qinetiq shares fell after an undisclosed institutional shareholder has sold around £90m worth of the firm's stock.

According to terms seen by Bloomberg, the shares have been sold at 352p each, which is a discount of around 5.9% to the closing share price on Thursday.

Homeware retailer Dunelm was under the cosh after rating downgrades at UBS.

Georgia's TBC Bank gained after posting lower second-quarter pre-tax profits on the back of increased operating expenses but reiterated both medium-term and full-year targets.

TBC said second-quarter operating expenses had widened 21.5% to GEL 163.65m (£49.88m), leading to a pre-tax profit of GEL 262.62m (£80.06m) for the period.

Operating profits, on the other hand, rose 12.4% to GEL 464.1m (£141.49m), overall profits for the period came to GEL 234.56m (£71.51m) and net interest income increased 25% year-on-year to GEL 303.6m (£92.56m).

Looking forward, TBC said its "strong financial and operating results" provided the group with confidence that it was "on the right track" to achieve growth and profitability targets and had led it to reiterate its medium-term targets for key financial measures- a return on equity of above 20%, a cost to income ratio below 35%, a dividend payout ratio of 25-35% and annual loan growth of 10-15%.

Separately, TBC declared an interim dividend of GEL 2.5 (0.76p) per share, payable on 14 October, and announced a share buyback programme that will see the group snap up as much as GEL 75.0m (£22.85m) of its own shares.

FTSE 250 - Risers

Darktrace (DARK) 423.20p 5.80%
TBC Bank Group (TBCG) 1,616.00p 4.53%
Drax Group (DRX) 732.50p 4.49%
Bank of Georgia Group (BGEO) 1,814.00p 4.25%
Moonpig Group (MOON) 214.40p 3.78%
TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 154.05p 3.74%
Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 119.60p 3.64%
Bridgepoint Group (Reg S) (BPT) 280.40p 3.55%
Polymetal International (POLY) 219.00p 3.30%
Dr. Martens (DOCS) 268.80p 2.99%