LONDON (ShareCast) - (ShareCast News) - London's FTSE 250 index was up 0.6% at 17,618.23 at 14:51 BST, with online retailer JD Sports Fashion pacing the advance.
Shares in JD Sports Fashion surged after the company said it expects its full-year profit to be 10% ahead of current market forecasts of around £110m, as trading in the first half of the year continued to be strong. In a brief trading update, JD said like-for-like sales remain in excess of management forecasts, although it warned that as previously reported, it has suffered some loss of margin from the weakness in the euro.

Media firm UBM was also on the front foot. Although the company posted a 37% decline in first-half pre-tax profit, revenue was up and the results were in line overall. In addition, investors took comfort from reassurance that it will meet its full-year expectations.

On the downside, shares in plastic and fibre producer Essentra slumped after it reported a drop in interim profits on the back of exceptional costs, although revenue grew strongly following the acquisition of Clondalkin.

Moneysupermarket.com was also under the cosh after personal finance commentator Martin Lewis pocketed £25m from the sale of 9m shares in the company. Lewis's sale, which was brokered by Credit Suisse, represented roughly 1.6% of the company's shares, while the sale by the Charities Aid Foundation of 4.27m shares, out of the holding that it received as a donation from Martin Lewis, represented another 0.8%.

Vesuvius shares fell after it reported a decline in interim pre-tax profit due to a drop in global steel output and inventory volumes. The molten metal flow engineering company said its pre-tax profit decreased 6.1% year-on-year to £37.9m, while the drop in global steel output brought revenue down 3.7% to £702.6m.

Fluid control engineer IMI was in the red as its first-half sales fell more than expected. Sales dropped 5% to £765m, down 2% on an 'organic' basis adjusting for forex movements and excluding exceptional issues, short of consensus forecasts of £793m.

Risers
JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 803.50p +7.64%
UBM (UBM) 533.00p +5.13%
Spire Healthcare Group (SPI) 387.90p +5.09%
Henderson Group (HGG) 283.50p +4.30%
Pets at Home Group (PETS) 291.20p +4.00%
Grafton Group Units (GFTU) 724.50p +3.95%
Betfair Group (BET) 2,790.00p +3.60%
Howden Joinery Group (HWDN) 494.00p +3.33%
Telecom Plus (TEP) 1,181.00p +3.14%
Bellway (BWY) 2,432.00p +3.01%

Fallers
Essentra (ESNT) 901.00p -6.15%
Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 119.10p -5.40%
Lonmin (LMI) 51.05p -5.11%
Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 161.20p -4.84%
Countrywide (CWD) 511.00p -3.77%
Moneysupermarket.com Group (MONY) 284.90p -3.75%
Vesuvius (VSVS) 406.50p -3.38%
IMI (IMI) 1,052.00p -2.41%
Aggreko (AGK) 1,189.00p -2.14%
Premier Oil (PMO) 133.50p -2.13%

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