FTSE 250 movers: Debenhams jumps on new CFO

28th Jul 2014 14:38

High street retailer Debenhams raced to the top of the leaderboard on the news it has appointed the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Mothercare to the same role on its own board. Matt Smith, who has been CFO at Mothercare since last year and has previously been Finance Director of Home Retail's Argos, will take up his new role once he has satisfied the terms of his current contract. South African and Tanzanian miner Petra Diamonds was another strong riser after it reported a 17% rise in annual production to 3.1m carats, ahead of market expectations of 3m carats. An increase in output at Finsch, Williamson, Koffiefontein and Kimberley Underground operations offset reductions at Cullinan and Helam. Revenue climbed 17% to $42.6m in the year ended June 30th. Meanwhile, set-top box maker Pace was in the red after it was announced finance chief Roddy Murray will leave immediately and his role will be filled by Group Financial Controller Belinda Ellis for the interim period. No reason for Murray's departure was given. That came despite the group predicting higher-than-expected annual profits. Cranswick failed to impress with a 5% increase in first quarter revenue, which came after the UK food producer achieved growth across most of its product ranges. The company said operating margin in the three months to June 30th was similar to that achieved in the previous year. FTSE 250 - RisersDebenhams (DEB) 66.70p +4.06%Petra Diamonds Ltd.(DI) (PDL) 218.10p +3.36%Infinis Energy (INFI) 238.30p +2.63%Drax Group (DRX) 682.00p +2.02%Lonmin (LMI) 245.50p +1.87%Ophir Energy (OPHR) 201.60p +1.46%Phoenix Group Holdings (DI) (PHNX) 689.00p +1.32%Centamin (DI) (CEY) 75.00p +1.28%Rank Group (RNK) 161.00p +1.19%Playtech (PTEC) 612.00p +1.16%FTSE 250 - FallersFidessa Group (FDSA) 2,048.00p -3.71%Evraz (EVR) 94.60p -3.57%Ted Baker (TED) 1,680.00p -3.45%AO World (AO.) 204.80p -3.44%CSR (CSR) 562.50p -3.18%Computacenter (CCC) 617.50p -2.91%DCC (DCC) 3,382.00p -2.79%RPS Group (RPS) 263.00p -2.77%Pets at Home Group (PETS) 178.40p -2.51%Xaar (XAR) 555.50p -2.46%NR