FTSE 250 movers: Homeserve gets served

22nd May 2012 15:52

It never rains but it pours at emergency home repairs group HomeServe, as the firm revealed that the Financial Services Authority (FSA) was investigating 'certain historic issues'."While the shares have decreased by 53% since the suspension of UK sales activities on Oct 31st, they will now remain under pressure," correctly predicted Charles Stanley's Andy Smith.The firm has had a torrid year that saw it temporarily suspend its UK sales and marketing activity in October after evidence emerged that some customers did not understand what they were buying.In terms of results, the firm had already prepped the market in March that it was trading in line with expectations, so the figures will come as no surprise.Profit before tax was up 8% to £126m on revenues that were up 14% to £534.7m.Basic earnings per share leapt 48% to 35.4p and the firm pushed its dividend up 10% to 11.3p.UK revenue fell by £5.4m to £353.5m, mainly due to the temporary suspension of sales and marketing activity in October.Total customer numbers fell nine per cent to 2.7m, while policy numbers fell 12% on a year ago to 6.7m.Mezzanine financing is not normally a topic to set the pulses racing but Intermediate Capital seems to be doing well enough at it, and investors were tucking into the shares after the company's full year results.Adjusted profits before tax in the 12 months to the end of March were £198.8m compared to £190.1m in the prior year. Earnings per share increased from 32.6p to 47.7p leaving the company headroom to announce a final dividend of 13p per share, bringing the total to 19p, up from 18p in 2010/2011. Third party assets under management declined 3% to €11.4bn, which Intermediate claims is due to the run off of old funds exceeding funds raised.FTSE 250 - RisersIntermediate Capital Group (ICP) 264.70p +16.45%Bumi (BUMI) 436.00p +13.84%Yule Catto & Co (YULC) 204.00p +8.34%Talvivaara Mining Company (TALV) 156.90p +6.37%Centamin (DI) (CEY) 68.95p +6.32%Victrex (VCT) 1,351.00p +5.96%Dixons Retail (DXNS) 14.43p +5.95%Kenmare Resources (KMR) 44.97p +5.66%Essar Energy (ESSR) 120.40p +5.61%Ashtead Group (AHT) 224.90p +5.04%FTSE 250 - FallersHomeserve (HSV) 165.00p -27.44%Lamprell (LAM) 104.60p -10.60%Petra Diamonds Ltd.(DI) (PDL) 125.00p -4.87%JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 715.00p -4.67%Diploma (DPLM) 421.20p -4.49%BH Global Ltd. USD Shares (BHGU) 11.4 -2.81%Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) 228.80p -2.35%Savills (SVS) 305.70p -2.08%Gem Diamonds Ltd. (DI) (GEMD) 218.00p -1.80%Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 2,677.00p -1.76%JH