LONDON (ShareCast) - First-half results from Howden Joinery received a warm welcome from the market as the kitchen and joinery products group delivered a decent jump in interim profits and reported a strong start to the second half. Howden-branded UK depots generated revenue of £428.2m in the first half, up 11.6%, helped by the opening of 17 new depots, taking the total to 576.

Rathbone Brothers, the UK wealth management group that dates back to 1742, climbed after it said that funds under management rose 8.6% to £23.9bn in the first half of the year. The company also said that it had settled a long-running legal dispute.

Despite a mixed performance across its divisions and regions, health and safety group Halma reported organic revenue growth momentum continued into the first quarter of its new financial year, prompting a rise in shares.

Meanwhile, softer trading in France and the UK meant the first-quarter update from Electrocomponents disappointed investors despite improving group revenue growth. Group underlying sales growth in the first quarter was 3%, with combined sales growth across the latter two months of May and June of 4%.


FTSE 250 - Risers
Howden Joinery Group (HWDN) 344.50p +10.56%
Lancashire Holdings Limited (LRE) 641.00p +5.86%
Rank Group (RNK) 161.30p +3.00%
Rathbone Brothers (RAT) 2,023.00p +2.95%
Phoenix Group Holdings (DI) (PHNX) 669.00p +2.92%
Inchcape (INCH) 656.00p +2.90%
WH Smith (SMWH) 1,139.00p +2.89%
Domino Printing Sciences (DNO) 626.00p +2.79%
COLT Group SA (COLT) 138.60p +1.91%
Rightmove (RMV) 2,190.00p +1.86%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Electrocomponents (ECM) 239.80p -7.13%
Ladbrokes (LAD) 132.70p -4.60%
William Hill (WMH) 338.40p -4.43%
Perform Group (PER) 208.60p -4.31%
Drax Group (DRX) 682.50p -3.87%
Wood Group (John) (WG.) 751.50p -3.34%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 365.30p -3.23%
Tullett Prebon (TLPR) 243.90p -3.21%
IP Group (IPO) 188.90p -3.13%
Hays (HAS) 125.10p -3.02%

NR

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