FTSE 250 movers: Dunelm leaps on surprise revenue growth as Indivior drops
London’s FTSE 250 was up 0.75% at 17,930.21 in afternoon trade on Monday, with Dunelm Group leading the way as it bucked the trend for retailers.
Homewares group Dunelm surged as it struck a note of caution about full-year results due to "unprecedented" uncertainty caused by Brexit, but posted 9% growth in total like-for-like sales for the second quarter, with LFL stores revenue up 5.7% year-on-year and online revenue 37.9% higher.
Dunelm's sales growth, coupled with a strong performance from budget supermarket Aldi, constitutes a rare ray of good news for retailers and sent contemporaries Sports Direct and B&M European Value Retail higher.
Neil Wilson, chief market analyst at Markets.com, said: "In the closely watched retail sector in the UK, some good numbers out of Aldi this morning can be read two ways. On the one hand they could be a concern for the big supermarkets if it suggests more market share loss. On the other, it could just be that the Christmas trading period was a good one. I’d probably see the glass half full for now."
Theme park operator Merlin Entertainments was also on the rise after was selected as one of Morgan Stanley’s sector top picks and entered into a partnership agreement with Gangwon provincial government to build a Legoland park in South Korea.
Sanne Group crept upward after it strengthened its presence in the Asia-Pacific region with the opening of a new office in Tokyo to join established locations in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Singapore.
Embattled opioid treatment developer Indivior led the fallers as Equiniti gave up earlier gains to trade a touch lower as it won a contract to run the UK media and telecoms watchdog's scheme to compensate users of radio spectrum that is being cleared for use in 5G mobile services.
Market Movers
FTSE 250 (MCX) 17,930.21 0.75%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Dunelm Group (DNLM) 642.00p 10.98%
Aveva Group (AVV) 2,446.00p 5.43%
Merlin Entertainments (MERL) 340.52p 5.39%
Clarkson (CKN) 2,240.00p 4.92%
Vesuvius (VSVS) 518.50p 4.92%
Sports Direct International (SPD) 259.50p 4.05%
NewRiver REIT (NRR) 216.33p 4.01%
B&M European Value Retail S.A. (DI) (BME) 309.30p 3.97%
Sanne Group (SNN) 584.00p 3.91%
Vivo Energy (VVO) 133.00p 3.91%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Indivior (INDV) 120.50p -4.89%
CYBG (CYBG) 185.20p -2.53%
Just Group (JUST) 94.65p -2.32%
Equiniti Group (EQN) 201.50p -2.18%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 119.95p -2.04%
Hastings Group Holdings (HSTG) 193.30p -1.93%
Britvic (BVIC) 812.50p -1.63%
TBC Bank Group (TBCG) 1,464.00p -1.61%
Rank Group (RNK) 137.80p -1.43%
Herald Investment Trust (HRI) 1,095.00p -1.35%