FTSE 250 movers: WH Smith soars; Marshalls slides
By Frank Prenesti
Date: Monday 19 Jan 2026
(Sharecast News) - FTSE 250 (MCX) 23,131.71 -0.77%
WH Smith shot to the top of the FTSE 250 as the travel retailer appointed Leo Quinn to the role of executive chairman with effect from 7 April. Quinn, who will succeed current chair Annette Court, has over 20 years' experience as CEO of UK publicly quoted companies, most recently as CEO of infrastructure group Balfour Beatty.
Defence firms were high risers on the back of geopolitical tensions with defence technology group QinetiQ higher as it also announced a five-year contract extension worth £205m with the UK Ministry of Defence.
Landscaping supply group Marshalls fell after saying it expects to report annual earnings in line with market expectations despite subdued end markets and "prolonged" pre-Budget uncertainty during the second half which saw revenues come in flat.
The company also said the outlook for 2026 "continues to be uncertain" but that it was confident that cost-cutting last year would deliver an improved financial performance.
Analysts at Berenberg nudged up their target price on Johnson Service Group from 195 to 205p after the group reported "another resilient performance".
Johnson Service Group released what Berenberg called "a reassuring FY25 trading update" on 16 January, which in its view, "attested to the company's resilience", especially in the context of the subdued UK economic/consumer backdrop.
Berenberg highlighted an acceleration in JSG's Workwear unit's growth and further improvement in the firm's underlying earnings margin as standouts of the update.
The German bank also noted that while JSG's organic revenue growth was currently "more modest than recent years", it noted that the business continues to grow adjusted EBIT at double-digit rates, reflected in rising profit margins.
Combined with recent share buyback activity, Berenberg expects JSG to deliver earnings per share growth at rates of 18-21% over FY25- 26.
"Despite this strong earnings growth, its shares have yet to show any material momentum, rising by only 4.9% ytd and at below average multiples," said Berenberg, which has a 'buy' rating on the stock.
"In our view, JSG provides strong growth at very reasonable price. We move our valuation considerations forward a year, upwardly revising our price target by 5% to 205p (44% upside), still only equating to 14.3x FY26 earnings."
FTSE 250 - Risers
WH Smith (SMWH) 687.50p 9.21%
Lancashire Holdings Limited (LRE) 627.00p 4.50%
QinetiQ Group (QQ.) 531.50p 3.10%
Plus500 Ltd (DI) (PLUS) 4,002.00p 2.41%
Johnson Service Group (JSG) 145.00p 2.40%
Pennon Group (PNN) 557.00p 2.20%
Endeavour Mining (EDV) 4,070.00p 1.85%
Avon Technologies (AVON) 2,020.00p 1.61%
BlackRock World Mining Trust (BRWM) 943.00p 1.51%
Serco Group (SRP) 298.60p 1.22%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Ocado Group (OCDO) 262.00p -7.09%
Trustpilot Group (TRST) 219.60p -5.43%
Raspberry PI Holdings (RPI) 287.20p -4.20%
AEP Plantations (AEP) 1,465.00p -3.93%
Elementis (ELM) 165.40p -3.61%
Marshalls (MSLH) 171.00p -3.61%
Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) 148.80p -3.38%
Renishaw (RSW) 3,745.00p -3.35%
W.A.G Payment Solutions (EWG) 120.00p -3.23%
Future (FUTR) 498.40p -3.04%
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