FTSE 250 movers: Home Retail slumps as Argos misses forecasts

13th Jun 2013 14:42

Home Retail saw shares sink on Thursday after the first-quarter underlying growth figures at its Argos chain missed forecasts. Like-for-like (LFL) sales increased by just 1.9 per cent in the 13 weeks to June 1st, well below the 3.0 per cent expected by analysts. LFL growth at the smaller Homebase division was a more subdued 1.2 per cent but in line with estimates.Heading the other way was consumer-product group PZ Cussons after saying that its performance in the year to May 31st was in line with expectations, with revenue and profit growth seen across all three regions of Europe, Asia and Africa.WS Atkins, the engineering and product management consultancy, said that a strong performance in the UK was offset by continued challenging markets elsewhere as it posted flat revenues for the year ended March 31st. However the bottom line did come in ahead of market expectations, helping shares to rise today.Retail WH Smith was firmly lower after saying that sales in the third quarter fell 5.0% with LFL sales down 6.0% as its High Street stores struggled to compete with the strong publishing schedule last year.Meanwhile, water group Pennon was in demand, benefitting from rumours that the company could be attracting interest from investors in Abu Dhabi.FTSE 250 - RisersPZ Cussons (PZC) 382.50p +4.68%Atkins (WS) (ATK) 910.00p +3.41%Pennon Group (PNN) 682.50p +3.33%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 297.90p +2.69%Britvic (BVIC) 484.50p +1.79%Murray Income Trust (MUT) 747.00p +1.49%Henderson Group (HGG) 146.70p +1.45%Balfour Beatty (BBY) 221.80p +1.42%Kier Group (KIE) 1,180.00p +1.37%International Personal Finance (IPF) 491.50p +1.19%FTSE 250 - FallersHome Retail Group (HOME) 132.40p -8.12%Rank Group (RNK) 151.00p -5.62%Bodycote (BOY) 501.50p -4.75%888 Holdings (888) 140.80p -4.28%New World Resources A Shares (NWR) 95.35p -4.12%Worldwide Healthcare Trust (WWH) 1,002.00p -3.93%Unite Group (UTG) 334.50p -3.74%Computacenter (CCC) 450.80p -3.65%WH Smith (SMWH) 706.00p -3.42%Morgan Advance Materials (MGAM) 261.90p -3.29%