FTSE 250 movers: Direct Line falls; Kainos surges

UK insurer Direct Line said it planned to axe 550 jobs as part of a turnaround plan amid continuing struggles at its motor insurance arm.

“In motor, trading conditions have been challenging although we continued to grow policy count on price comparison websites and have worked at pace on the launch of the Direct Line brand in this channel,” the company said in a trading update.

“Our drive to create a leaner and more efficient operating model is advancing, with consultations currently taking place as part of a proposed reduction of around 550 roles.”

Direct Line said it was targeting £50m gross costs savings in 2025.

"Another 71,000 own-brand motor customers were lost over the third quarter as premiums were 3% higher than last year on average," said Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.

"The good news is that the rate of decline in customer numbers is slowing, as insurance prices are now starting to come down after some mammoth hikes were put through earlier in the year."

Shares in Kainos surged on Monday after the software group unveiled a £30m share buyback as it reported a rise in interim profit on the back of an 18% rise in recurring revenue, although it remained cautious on full-year prospects.

Pre-tax profit for the six months to September 30 rose 11% to £34.2m. Overall revenue was down 5% to £183m, but product annual recurring revenue rose to £65m from £55.4m and the contracted backlog increased 8% to £354.1m. Shares in the company gained 8%.

"Our services businesses faced a tougher environment in the first half of the year in a generally soft market, and we remain cautious about our prospects for the remainder of the year,” said chief executive Russel Sloan.

“However, we continue to generate robust levels of profitability and looking to the medium term and beyond, we continue to see substantial growth opportunities across all our core markets.”

Kainos last month cut its full-year revenue outlook reflecting poor macro-economic conditions and delayed decision making by the new UK Labour government.

“We expect the majority of the revenue reduction (along with the impact of the additional investment to support our products partnership with Workday) to flow through to lower adjusted profit before tax,” it added on Monday.

Wood Group recovered some ground from last week's 60% slump when the oil services company decided to start a governance review over large project write offs.

FTSE 250 - Risers

Kainos Group (KNOS) 859.00p 8.05%
Wood Group (John) (WG.) 62.20p 7.52%
Telecom Plus (TEP) 1,752.00p 5.42%
Keller Group (KLR) 1,690.00p 5.36%
PureTech Health (PRTC) 165.00p 5.23%
TBC Bank Group (TBCG) 3,210.00p 4.90%
Bank of Georgia Group (BGEO) 4,790.00p 4.70%
Future (FUTR) 921.50p 4.66%
Trustpilot Group (TRST) 268.50p 4.47%
Paragon Banking Group (PAG) 716.50p 4.45%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Centamin (DI) (CEY) 146.80p -4.98%
Endeavour Mining (EDV) 1,590.00p -4.73%
Pets at Home Group (PETS) 289.40p -3.15%
Direct Line Insurance Group (DLG) 161.50p -2.24%
Auction Technology Group (ATG) 454.50p -1.84%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 225.00p -1.75%
BlackRock World Mining Trust (BRWM) 522.00p -1.51%
HarbourVest Global Private Equity Limited A Shs (HVPE) 2,405.00p -1.03%
Currys (CURY) 80.25p -0.99%
Bluefield Solar Income Fund Limited (BSIF) 101.00p -0.98%