FTSE 250 movers: Sophos Group and housebuilders lead charge, PageGroup still languishes

The FTSE 250 had its head above water on Friday afternoon, with housebuilders joining tech firm Sophos on the green side of the ledger.

Cloud networking and cybersecurity services provider Sophos Group was leading the risers after lunch, after it reported a 3% improvement on revenue year-on-year to $180.2m, or 7% at constant currency.

The company said it saw “strong” subscription revenue growth of 10% at constant currency in the three month period ended 30 June, which was offset by a reduction in hardware revenue of 11%.

Looking at its profitability, Sophos said its adjusted operating profit was ahead 10% year-on-year, reflecting revenue growth and the phasing of expenses.

Housebuilders and associated services continued their charge higher from Thursdays session, with Bellway and Crest Nicholson being joined by Travis Perkins at the top end of the index.

PageGroup was lingering on the downside, after analysts at Jefferies cut their target price on the British recruitment business on Thursday, noting that a struggling global labour market throughout June had led it to downgrade its earnings per share estimates for the group by 5-7%.

Jefferies said assessing recruiter fair value at this stage of the economic cycle was "a challenging exercise".

FTSE 250 - Risers

Sophos Group (SOPH) 431.60p 4.58%
Dixons Carphone (DC.) 120.95p 4.31%
Syncona Limited NPV (SYNC) 238.78p 3.82%
PayPoint (PAY) 929.00p 3.11%
Sirius Minerals (SXX) 16.37p 3.02%
Bellway (BWY) 2,839.00p 2.90%
Travis Perkins (TPK) 1,265.00p 2.68%
Ascential (ASCL) 369.60p 2.67%
Crest Nicholson Holdings (CRST) 365.20p 2.64%
Contour Global (GLO) 178.40p 2.53%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

TI Fluid Systems (TIFS) 189.00p -3.18%
Ted Baker (TED) 829.00p -2.59%
Funding Circle Holdings (FCH) 125.00p -2.50%
Pagegroup (PAGE) 415.00p -2.35%
Senior (SNR) 213.40p -1.93%
Pennon Group (PNN) 735.20p -1.92%
Drax Group (DRX) 280.00p -1.82%
IP Group (IPO) 71.20p -1.52%
Beazley (BEZ) 550.25p -1.48%
Dechra Pharmaceuticals (DPH) 2,882.00p -1.17%