FTSE 250 movers: Zoopla owner zooms; IPF gloomy
Shares in ZPG, the owner of property websites Zoopla and PrimeLocation, lef the FTSE 250 risers after the company on Wednesday said it had bought Expert Agent, a software provider for estate agents, for an undisclosed fee.
The acquisition is part of the company’s strategy to be a provider of resources for UK property professionals and builds on its recent acquisition of Hometrack, a provider of property data.
Evraz shares were up as the company said earnings for 2016 rose following a cost-cutting programme, while the Russian steel miner remains “cautiously optimistic” about the future of the commodity market.
Although consolidated revenue fell 12% to £7.71m, earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose 7.2% to $1.54m in 2016 as the EBITDA margin increased to 20% from 16.4%.
Consumer credit lender International Personal Finance tanked as it reported a 20% drop in full-year pre-tax profit.
For the year to the end of December, profit before tax and exceptional items fell to £92.6m from £116.2m, reflecting a combination of lower home credit profit and higher investment in IPF Digital, offset partially by strengthening FX rates.
Home credit underlying profit before tax declined to £116.8m from £134.9m. The drop was attributed to three issues: the introduction of new total cost of credit legislation in Poland, higher levels of impairment in Mexico following a first half performance which was below the group's expectations, and the wind-down of its Slovakian operation.
Carillion failed to impress, as it announced a 5% fall in pre-tax profits to £146.7m and basic earnings per share down 6% to 28.9p.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,376.48 1.56%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 18,966.86 1.04%
techMARK (TASX) 3,425.63 0.78%
FTSE 250 - Risers
ZPG Plc (ZPG) 393.80p 6.00%
Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 558.50p 5.98%
Countryside Properties (CSP) 234.80p 4.87%
Senior (SNR) 191.40p 4.65%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 897.00p 4.18%
Evraz (EVR) 239.80p 4.08%
Hill & Smith Holdings (HILS) 1,148.00p 4.08%
OneSavings Bank (OSB) 379.90p 4.03%
Petra Diamonds Ltd.(DI) (PDL) 142.80p 4.01%
IMI (IMI) 1,287.00p 3.71%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
International Personal Finance (IPF) 163.00p -10.04%
Carillion (CLLN) 209.00p -4.57%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 257.10p -3.42%
Ascential (ASCL) 289.80p -2.42%
Entertainment One Limited (ETO) 231.70p -1.99%
Elementis (ELM) 293.90p -1.90%
Inmarsat (ISAT) 700.00p -1.62%
Meggitt (MGGT) 462.90p -1.62%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 172.10p -1.54%
Marshalls (MSLH) 293.10p -1.51%