FTSE 250 movers: easyJet gains altitude

6th May 2011 14:57

Budget airline easyJet is flying higher after better-than-expected passenger figures for April. The airline carried 4.72m passengers in April, up 35.1% from the 3.49m passengers in April 2010.Hotels group Millennium & Copthorne posted higher revenues and profits in the three months to 31 March, but warned that the recovery this year will be more subdued than that seen in 2010. The stock is the worst performer on the FTSE 250.Pest control and cleaning firm Rentokil Initial posted a 10.1% drop in first quarter adjusted pre-tax profit but expects business at its struggling City Link to pick up in the next two quarters. Shares are higher as of Friday afternoon.The share price of RPS has been dampened after the flooding and cyclones in Australia hurt the environmental consultancy business's trading in the first quarter.Shares in bus and rail groups are mixed after the Competition Commission (CC) spoke out at the UK bus industry, proposing that the market should be opened up to increase competition for the larger operators. Stagecoach and FirstGroup are wanted, while Go-Ahead and National Express have fallen into the red. Along with Arriva, these group are the five largest bus operators in the UK.Electrical components group Laird posted a 46% rise in underlying pre-tax profit during the first quarter and said its performance to date has been consistent with targets at the time of its full year results in March, sending shares higher.---BCFTSE 250 - RisersCable & Wireless Worldwide (CW.) 49.63p +5.98%Telecity Group (TCY) 545.50p +3.90%easyJet (EZJ) 356.00p +3.82%Laird (LRD) 142.70p +3.78%Micro Focus International Plc (MCRO) 377.60p +3.74%Rightmove (RMV) 1,077.00p +3.66%Cobham (COB) 227.20p +2.95%Dairy Crest Group (DCG) 408.20p +2.92%Rentokil Initial (RTO) 93.70p +2.91%Lamprell (LAM) 352.80p +2.71%FTSE 250 - FallersMillennium & Copthorne Hotels (MLC) 513.00p -4.11%Kofax (KFX) 439.10p -3.71%EnQuest (ENQ) 126.90p -2.76%Kenmare Resources (KMR) 42.31p -2.69%Inchcape (INCH) 357.00p -2.62%Aquarius Platinum Ltd. (AQP) 339.00p -2.53%Dunelm Group (DNLM) 472.10p -2.48%CPP Group (CPP) 128.50p -2.43%Pace (PIC) 154.30p -2.40%Carpetright (CPR) 678.00p -2.31%