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FTSE 250 movers: Pets at Home surges but N Brown in the dog house
London's FTSE 250 was up 0.1% to 20,676.85 in afternoon trade on Tuesday, with Pets at Home shares in the lead.
Pets at Home surged as it reported a rise in third-quarter sales and said final guidance was unchanged. In the 12-week period to 4 January 2018, group revenue grew 9.6% to 223.3m, with group like-for-like revenue up 7.2%.
Low-budget airline Wizz Air flew higher following solid results from peer EasyJet and after chief executive Jozsef Varadi's interview with Italy's La Repubblica, in which he said the airline is interested in Alitalia's short and medium-haul routes.
Branded travel catering group SSP rose after saying first-quarter total revenue rose 13.5% on a constant currency basis, with like-for-like sales growth of 2.7%.
Defence contractor Cobham was boosted by an upgrade to 'buy' at Investec, while Paragon advanced as it said new lending rose 24% in the first quarter to £469.8m.
Bookies William Hill and Ladbrokes recouped some of the losses from the previous session, when it was hit by reports that the government was planning a £2 maximum stake on betting machines.
Going the other way, N Brown, the clothes retailer for plus-size and plus-age shoppers, tumbled. Although it had a sturdy third quarter, with a strong surge in its Simply brand and in the USA, it was relatively subdued compared to previous months. Sales grew 3.2% over the extended 18-week 'quarter' to 6 January, which was slightly short of the average of City analyst forecasts at 3.6%, with some having expected growth of as much as 5%.
Risers
Pets at Home Group (PETS) 195.50p 7.42%
Dignity (DTY) 1,019.00p 6.53%
Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 3,681.00p 5.05%
SSP Group (SSPG) 661.50p 3.85%
Cobham (COB) 136.15p 3.54%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 224.57p 3.49%
Paragon Banking Group (PAG) 514.00p 3.21%
William Hill (WMH) 305.90p 2.93%
Ladbrokes Coral Group (LCL) 172.70p 2.80%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 1,035.52p 2.73%
Fallers
Brown (N.) Group (BWNG) 235.20p -15.64%
Just Group (JUST) 147.90p -6.57%
Cineworld Group (CINE) 485.40p -3.88%
Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 6,070.00p -3.80%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 297.60p -3.63%
Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 892.60p -3.48%
Mitie Group (MTO) 186.00p -3.48%
Purecircle Limited (DI) (PURE) 412.00p -2.72%
Barr (A.G.) (BAG) 650.00p -2.69%
Rank Group (RNK) 236.00p -2.68%