FTSE 250 movers: Lovely landscape as Marshalls soars
Shares in specialist landscape products group Marshalls jumped 7% as the firm reported a 31% jump in full-year profit on Wednesday thanks to an improvement in operating margins.
In the year to the end of December, pre-tax profit rose to £46m from £35.3m as operating margins improved to 12% from 9.7% and revenue grew 3% from 2015 to £396.9m.
Sales to the domestic end market, which represents 31% of group sales, were up 10% for the year compared with 2015, and were particularly strong in the second half when they rose 14%.
Polymetal International shares were also shining as the company announced its preliminary results for the year to 31 December on Wednesday, with revenue increasing 10% over 2015, to $1.58bn.
The FTSE 250 firm said average realised gold and silver prices increased by 8% and 11% respectively, with gold sales at 880 Koz, up 2% year-on-year, and silver sales at 30.7 Moz, down 2% year-on-year, in line with the board’s “production volume dynamics”.
Group total cash costs were $570 per gold equivalent ounce, up 6% from 2015 levels and within Polymetal’s original guidance of $550 to $575/GE oz.
St Modwen Properties retreated after confirming that a period of exclusivity which was recently granted to a prospective buy of its 10-acre site at New Covent Garden Market has now expired.
Playtech fell on news that its founder has agreed to sell a 4.1% stake in the company.
Founder Teddy Sagi is to sell £113m of shares in the gambling software company to London-based hedge fund Boussard & Gavaudan.
Brickington Trading, a Sagi vehicle and the largest shareholder in the company, has agreed to sell 13m Playtech shares to Boussard at a price of 872.5p each, which is equivalent to 4.1% of Playtech’s issued share capital.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,376.77 0.26%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 18,953.02 0.01%
techMARK (TASX) 3,467.95 -0.17%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Marshalls (MSLH) 339.80p 7.43%
IP Group (IPO) 159.40p 6.27%
Ibstock (IBST) 213.40p 6.17%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 158.60p 5.73%
Petra Diamonds Ltd.(DI) (PDL) 130.40p 4.74%
Clarkson (CKN) 2,801.00p 3.67%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 838.50p 2.89%
Aldermore Group (ALD) 226.40p 2.54%
Polymetal International (POLY) 950.50p 2.32%
Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 919.00p 2.22%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
SIG (SHI) 109.90p -4.35%
St. Modwen Properties (SMP) 315.70p -4.28%
AO World (AO.) 144.70p -3.28%
Sophos Group (SOPH) 261.30p -2.75%
Card Factory (CARD) 276.40p -2.61%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 249.70p -2.54%
JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 361.80p -2.24%
Supergroup (SGP) 1,449.00p -2.09%
McCarthy & Stone (MCS) 192.80p -2.08%
PayPoint (PAY) 964.00p -2.03%