FTSE 250 movers: Aston Martin hits the skids; Pets at Home surges
By Frank Prenesti
Date: Wednesday 26 Feb 2025
(Sharecast News) - FTSE 250 (MCX) 20,602.67 0.76%
Shares in Aston Martin Lagonda tanked on Wednesday as the luxury car maker announced plans to axe around 5% of its global workforce in a bid to cut costs, and reported a widening of its losses.
In results for the year to the end of December 2024, the car maker said it was kicking off a process "to make organisational adjustments, to ensure the business is appropriately resourced for its future plans".
This will mean the loss of around 170 employees, which it expects to lead to savings of around £25m, 50% of which will be realised in FY 2025.
The company said pre-tax losses widened to £289.1m from £239.8m the year before, with revenue down 3% to £1.58bn and wholesale volumes 9% lower at 6,030.
The car maker also said on Wednesday that it was delaying the launch of its first electric vehicle for the second time, to "the latter part of this decade". It had previously pushed back the launch to 2027.
Aston Martin struck an upbeat note on the outlook, however, saying it expects to make "significant" improvements across all key financial performance metrics in 2025. It expects to deliver positive adjusted EBIT in FY 2025 and free cash flow in the second half.
Pets at Home surged on Wednesday after markets blog Betaville suggested the company was at the centre of takeover rumours.
Betaville said that people following the situation had heard rumours Pets at Home may have attracted takeover interest, possibly from a private equity firm.
Property developer Hammerson said on Wednesday that losses had widened significantly in FY24 as a result of a major impairment of its "value retail" portfolio.
Hammerson said IFRS losses ballooned from £51.0m in FY23 to £526.0m in FY24, reflecting a £497.0m value retail impairment and H124 revaluation loss. Adjusted earnings of £99.0m were down from £116.0m a year earlier, principally due to impacts stemming from disposals.
Kepler Cheuvreux upgraded Burberry on Wednesday as it took a look at European luxury stocks.
"After a challenging 2024, we believe growth bottomed out in Q3 2024 and now expect a slow recovery, mainly in the second half of the year," it said.
"Margins should rebound moderately in 2025 and fully recover by 2026 (+135 basis points to 27%), supported by a streamlined cost base and favourable FX effects (USD)."
Market Movers
FTSE 250 - Risers
Pets at Home Group (PETS) 246.80p 7.12%
Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 1,666.00p 6.52%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,083.00p 5.40%
Indivior (INDV) 647.50p 4.94%
Alpha Group International (ALPH) 2,800.00p 4.87%
Chemring Group (CHG) 388.00p 3.88%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 335.30p 3.55%
AO World (AO.) 104.00p 3.38%
SThree (STEM) 253.00p 2.85%
Vistry Group (VTY) 633.00p 2.84%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings (AML) 97.15p -11.84%
Hammerson (HMSO) 273.60p -5.46%
Wood Group (John) (WG.) 37.22p -3.07%
ITV (ITV) 72.80p -2.08%
Deliveroo Class (ROO) 139.50p -2.04%
Kainos Group (KNOS) 756.00p -1.18%
Harbour Energy (HBR) 225.10p -1.10%
North Atlantic Smaller Companies Inv Trust (NAS) 3,640.00p -1.09%
Ithaca Energy (ITH) 140.00p -0.99%
Morgan Sindall Group (MGNS) 3,500.00p -0.99%
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