FTSE 250 movers: Fenner in the red after profits slide

13th Nov 2013 15:53

Reinforced polymer technology firm Fenner reported a sharp drop in full-year pre-tax profit, after reporting difficult trading conditions in the first half, but said its performance improved strongly in the second half as sentiment picks up.The maker of industrial belting products pre-tax profits fell to £67.9m for the year ended August 31st 2013 from £88.6m a year earlier. Revenue slipped to £820.6m during the year from £830.6m previously. ICAP advanced after saying cost cuts will boost full-year pre-tax profits this year.Shares in Drax, the electrical power generation company, got a boost when it revealed full-year earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) and underlying earnings per share would be 'materially ahead' of current market consensus forecasts. Meanwhile, after delivering a solid set of third quarter results, Partnership Assurance warned that fourth quarter numbers would be no stronger than the previous year's. The 'impaired' life assurance specialist, which provides retirement products for smokers and the chronically sick, grew its core retirement sales 5% in the quarter, a strong performance compared to total non-standard annuities (NSA) market decline of more than 15%.Barratt Development said it has seen a "significant improvement" in sales rates in the 19 weeks to November 10th as the property market showed recovery. The residential property development company achieved a 31.5% rise in net private reservations per active site per week of 0.71.Kier Group fell after admitting it is experiencing inflationary cost pressures, particularly in its Construction businesses.FTSE 250 - RisersFenner (FENR) 452.10p +11.00%ICAP (IAP) 396.00p +5.24%esure Group (ESUR) 223.10p +5.09%Xaar (XAR) 960.00p +4.92%Bwin.party Digital Entertainment (BPTY) 129.80p +4.26%Wood Group (John) (WG.) 816.00p +4.15%Bank of Georgia Holdings (BGEO) 2,163.00p +3.00%Drax Group (DRX) 655.50p +2.99%Homeserve (HSV) 251.60p +2.44%Imagination Technologies Group (IMG) 245.80p +2.42%FTSE 250 - FallersPartnership Assurance Group (PA.) 328.50p -20.29%Kier Group (KIE) 1,690.00p -6.53%Barratt Developments (BDEV) 313.30p -4.28%Enterprise Inns (ETI) 141.50p -4.20%Bovis Homes Group (BVS) 754.50p -4.19%Ferrexpo (FXPO) 179.70p -4.16%Greencore Group (GNC) 187.30p -3.65%Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 103.30p -3.46%NMC Health (NMC) 355.20p -3.37%Ashtead Group (AHT) 669.00p -3.32%NR