London’s FTSE 250 was up 1.6% at 23,491.38 in afternoon trade on Thursday.
Electrical retailer Currys surged after it announced a £75m share buyback as group organic sales jumped 15% from pre-pandemic 2019 levels on the back of continued demand for products such as laptops and video games during lockdowns.
Specialist engineering firm IMI was higher as it lifted earnings guidance after a better-than-expected third-quarter performance, but warned of exchange rate headwinds for the full year.
Venture capital outfit Draper Esprit gained as it said it expected its half-year gross portfolio value to be at least £1.3bn compared with £702m a year ago.
Tate & Lyle was up after it reported a rise in first-half profit and revenue following a particularly strong performance in the food & beverage solutions business.
On the downside, Virgin Money and Wizz Air were both lower after results, while Ashmore and ContourGlobal were weaker as they traded without entitlement to the dividend.
FTSE 250 – Risers
Currys (CURY) 133.70p 9.41%
IMI (IMI) 1,765.00p 8.35%
Draper Esprit (GROW) 1,058.00p 7.96%
Electrocomponents (ECM) 1,210.00p 6.33%
Baltic Classifieds Group (BCG) 220.00p 5.77%
Discoverie Group (DSCV) 1,134.00p 5.59%
Tate & Lyle (TATE) 685.00p 5.55%
Big Yellow Group (BYG) 1,530.00p 5.08%
Herald Investment Trust (HRI) 2,515.00p 5.01%
Allianz Technology Trust (ATT) 350.50p 4.78%
FTSE 250 – Fallers
Virgin Money UK (VMUK) 182.60p -6.69%
Ashmore Group (ASHM) 322.00p -6.50%
Diversified Energy Company (DEC) 106.20p -2.93%
Contour Global (GLO) 194.20p -2.90%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 285.80p -2.26%
PZ Cussons (PZC) 207.50p -1.66%
OSB Group (OSB) 491.20p -1.64%
Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 4,754.00p -1.31%
Tyman (TYMN) 379.50p -1.17%
Rank Group (RNK) 158.20p -1.13%
