FTSE 250 Movers: SThree takes a dive

2nd Dec 2011 14:07

SThree, the specialist recruitment business, was the biggest faller after profits were seen to be slowing in the final quarter, however, with Q4 up only 10% compared to the equivalent period of 2010.Gross profits by the end of November were £195m versus a 2010 figure of £166.4m. In the UK profits for the year were up 3%, however Q4 again showed signs of weakness, with the last three months down 7% on the same period of 2010. The stock wasn't helped by Investec cutting its target on the stock from 375p to 305p, although it kept its buy rating.Another recruitment firm, Michael Page International, appears to have caught SThree's cold, it is currently the second biggest faller on the FTSE 250, down 3.0%. Domino's Pizza was also down on news that Global Brands, which owns the Dominos franchise in Switzerland, Luxembourg and Liechtenstein, dropped 64.4% to 0.4p after revealing plans to delist from Aim.Meanwhile, set-top box manufacturer Pace was leading the way up after Collins Stewart issued a buy note which said: "Pace's major hard drive supplier Western Digital last night reported that it is resuming hard disc drive (HDD) production this week, earlier than it expected when the Thai floods first hit. It also forecast market-topping revenue of $1.8bn (compared with consensus of $1.2bn) for the current quarter to December 31. This can only be regarded as a positive development for Pace."Document and patent translation specialist SDL was also on the rise having reached an agreement on the terms of a recommended cash acquisition of Alterian, the Bristol based firm which makes content creation software. FTSE 250 - RisersPace (PIC) 58.20p +12.90%Home Retail Group (HOME) 98.30p +8.74%Carpetright (CPR) 422.90p +8.41%Aquarius Platinum Ltd. (AQP) 185.40p +7.98%Supergroup (SGP) 525.00p +6.71%Berkeley Group Holdings (BKG) 1,349.00p +6.47%SDL (SDL) 622.50p +6.23%Oxford Instruments (OXIG) 1,031.00p +5.10%Redrow (RDW) 117.50p +4.91%African Barrick Gold (ABG) 517.50p +4.78%FTSE 250 - FallersSThree (STHR) 226.80p -7.05%Michael Page International (MPI) 368.50p -3.00%Drax Group (DRX) 535.00p -2.82%Elementis (ELM) 148.60p -2.56%Domino's Pizza UK & IRL (DOM) 439.70p -2.53%Exillon Energy (EXI) 268.40p -2.44%Senior (SNR) 172.70p -2.04%Ashtead Group (AHT) 184.40p -2.02%Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 16.39p -1.80%Pennon Group (PNN) 700.00p -1.62%NR