FTSE 250 movers: Softcat roars after bumper dividend, Spire gleams

The FTSE 250 was up 0.72% in afternoon trading on Wednesday as investors digested figures emerging on the labour market.

Leading the charge during the session was Spire Healthcare as investors took encouragement from latest NHS referral data, even though analysts at Berenberg pointed out that the data "seems to show that trends have neither improved nor
worsened". Berenberg reiterated ‘hold’ and its 270p target price on the stock.

Softcat was also prowling higher after the IT firm announced hiked its dividend of 6.1p as well as a special payout of 13.5p. The increased divided arrived as revenue rocketed 23.8% in comparison with the same quarter last year.

Also rising on Wednesday was DS Smith, as the packaging material group announced it was acquiring Romanian companies EcoPack and EcoPaper for a deal with around €208m. The agreement is expected to improve Smith’s earnings power immediately.

On the other side of the board, Nostrum Oil and Gas was among a group of commodity-based firms which were among the top fallers. Nostrum said it would face delays on its GTU3 operations due to a late delivery of some specially designed valves.

Provident Financial’s recent woes continued as it fell more than 3%, with analysts at Jefferies cutting their target price from 940p to 915p.

FTSE 250 - Risers

Spire Healthcare Group (SPI) 252.30p 9.36%
Softcat (SCT) 465.00p 5.87%
Greencore Group (GNC) 199.00p 4.46%
Smith (DS) (SMDS) 489.80p 3.75%
Dixons Carphone (DC.) 189.00p 3.56%
Capital & Counties Properties (CAPC) 271.80p 3.42%
McCarthy & Stone (MCS) 160.10p 3.29%
Bellway (BWY) 3,674.00p 2.94%
Galliford Try (GFRD) 1,352.00p 2.81%
BTG (BTG) 747.00p 2.75%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Nostrum Oil & Gas (NOG) 391.80p -3.26%
Provident Financial (PFG) 877.00p -3.09%
Sirius Minerals (SXX) 25.65p -2.66%
Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 835.00p -2.40%
Elementis (ELM) 275.60p -2.06%
Cineworld Group (CINE) 667.00p -1.91%
GCP Infrastructure Investments Ltd (GCP) 124.20p -1.66%
Sanne Group (SNN) 789.00p -1.62%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 872.00p -1.25%
Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) 249.10p -1.23%