London’s FTSE 250 was down 0.4% at 19,987.25 in afternoon trade on Thursday.
Volution was in the red even as the air conditioner maker increased its dividend and reported a 15% rise in first-half profit, boosted by higher prices.
Outsourcer Capita also fell despite saying it swung to a profit in 2021 as revenue ticked higher following six years of declines.
On a reported basis, the company swung to a pre-tax profit of £285.6m from a loss of £49.4m, with revenue down 4.3% to £3.18bn. On an adjusted basis, however, revenue was up 0.4% at £3.0bn, while pre-tax profit increased to £93.5m from £5.4m a year earlier.
Hill & Smith and Spirent Communications were both trading up after well-received results, along with Spirent Communications.
Molten Ventures – formerly Draper Esprit – was on the rise after an upgrade to ‘buy’ from ‘hold’ at Jefferies.
Capital & Counties was also higher after an upgrade to ‘overweight’ from ‘underweight’ at Barclays.
“After significant underperformance over many periods, we believe it is time to be more constructive on Capco,” it said. “Rents and values have re-set by 25%, leases appear to be signed slightly ahead of ERV which could support further ERV growth, LTV remains low, and shares trade at approximately 30% discount to NAV.”
FTSE 250 – Risers
Baltic Classifieds Group (BCG) 127.00p 13.90%
Hill & Smith Holdings (HILS) 1,462.00p 12.98%
Spirent Communications (SPT) 248.80p 10.38%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 104.75p 5.55%
Balfour Beatty (BBY) 243.80p 5.18%
Molten Ventures (GROW) 720.00p 5.11%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 147.70p 4.75%
PureTech Health (PRTC) 187.60p 4.22%
Genus (GNS) 3,018.00p 4.07%
Capital & Counties Properties (CAPC) 161.50p 3.99%
FTSE 250 – Fallers
Volution Group (FAN) 412.00p -11.11%
Petropavlovsk (POG) 2.87p -10.31%
Darktrace (DARK) 456.00p -6.90%
Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 2,716.00p -6.63%
Micro Focus International (MCRO) 347.20p -6.01%
Auction Technology Group (ATG) 866.00p -5.36%
Capita (CPI) 20.73p -5.21%
easyJet (EZJ) 477.70p -5.07%
Wood Group (John) (WG.) 167.20p -4.46%
Bytes Technology Group (BYIT) 417.60p -4.44%
