FTSE 250 movers: Moneysupermarket crumbles on compensation concerns

Despite strong results and positive sentiment from many analysts, Moneysupermarket.com led the fallers due to weekend comments from the chairman of the government's Energy and Climate Change Committee, Tim Yeo MP, who called for price comparison companies to compensate customers who had been “duped” into buying energy policies that “may not have been the cheapest or most appropriate for their needs”.

The company tried to reassure analysts that this would not be its industry's version of the PPI scandal that has so hurt banks, but most were unimpressed. Results from the company were impressive though, with investments in advertising and technology bearing fruit in the form of a 10% rise in revenue. Post-tax profit was also up 52% as the company focused on developing its data asset, building a new aggregation engine and improving mobile performance.

Setting the pace in the other direction, appropriately, was Pace with its own set of impressive results. The pay-TV specialist lifted its dividend nearly 28% after a good year in which margins expanded better than analysts expected, and boasted of a strong start to 2015.

Vesuvius was trading higher as pre-tax profit for 2014 rose in spite of lower revenue, thanks to improved profit margins and lower costs in manufacturing and administration. The group proposed a final dividend of 11.125p, meaning its total annual dividend will be 16.125p, compared to 15p last year.

A key component supplier to Apple, Laird made gains following a strong set of annual results from 2014, with growth across revenue, profit, earnings and dividends. "Our consistent and disciplined strategy of investing for growth and driving cultural change is transforming our business, with good revenue growth and stable profit margins," said chief executive David Lockwood.

Rotork was also boosted by strong annual results, with record orders, revenues and profits outweighing the challenge of lower oil prices. Investec praised the company’s growing power business, particularly with regards to water and said currency should no longer be drag.

Regus was lower despite announcing plans to invest $120m on 400 new locations, as the strength of the British pound weighed on corporate profits.

Tullet Prebon was in the red after reporting a drop in full-year pre-tax profit, a result of tougher regulation and difficult trading conditions across the sector.

Risers
Pace (PIC) 362.00p +7.83%
Fisher (James) & Sons (FSJ) 1,238.00p +6.72%
Rotork (ROR) 2,604.00p +6.46%
Vesuvius (VSVS) 498.80p +5.01%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 604.50p +3.78%
Laird (LRD) 353.40p +3.48%
Electrocomponents (ECM) 239.70p +3.14%
Just Retirement Group (JRG) 177.50p +2.96%
Hunting (HTG) 486.00p +2.75%
Rank Group (RNK) 188.90p +2.66%

Fallers
Moneysupermarket.com Group (MONY) 245.70p -8.12%
Dunelm Group (DNLM) 879.00p -6.09%
Regus (RGU) 227.90p -5.63%
Afren (AFR) 9.37p -5.40%
Tullett Prebon (TLPR) 334.10p -5.09%
Lonmin (LMI) 147.40p -4.60%
Just Eat (JE.) 352.50p -4.32%
Serco Group (SRP) 206.00p -3.51%
Countrywide (CWD) 514.00p -3.47%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 2,395.00p -3.23%