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London’s FTSE 250 was up 0.8% at 17,302.31 in afternoon trade on Tuesday.
EasyJet was sitting pretty at the top of the index as it said it expects to report a smaller loss for the fourth quarter of the year and announced the expansion of its flight schedule amid stronger-than-expected summer bookings, after taking a hit from the Covid-19 pandemic.
The budget airline said it now expects to fly around 40% of planned capacity in the fourth quarter, up from the 30% previously anticipated, and that it will record a smaller loss than in Q3.
However, financial guidance for the rest of 2020 remained withdrawn “given the continued level of short-term uncertainty”.
Car insurer Direct Line was up after it lifted its dividend and declared a special “catchup” payout to make up for cancelling its 2019 disbursement, as it reported a fall in profits.
Going the other way, Babcock fell sharply as the aerospace and defence company said first-quarter underlying revenue fell 11% on the same period a year ago, while underlying operating profit slumped 40%.
Workspace provider IWG was under pressure as it posted a widening of its first-half losses, while Spectris lost ground despite saying it had performed better than it expected in the first half and reinstating its dividend.
Calisen was in the red even as the smart meter company almost halved interim losses as installations resumed after the easing of lockdown measures in the UK.
FTSE 250 – Risers
easyJet (EZJ) 550.80p 8.60%
Direct Line Insurance Group (DLG) 332.20p 8.00%
Greggs (GRG) 1,272.00p 6.62%
Royal Mail (RMG) 179.40p 6.53%
William Hill (WMH) 115.85p 6.04%
Dixons Carphone (DC.) 78.85p 5.84%
National Express Group (NEX) 151.80p 5.78%
Inchcape (INCH) 461.00p 5.49%
TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 303.60p 5.45%
SSP Group (SSPG) 216.40p 5.15%
FTSE 250 – Fallers
Babcock International Group (BAB) 260.30p -9.93%
Kainos Group (KNOS) 1,102.00p -5.00%
Spectris (SXS) 2,519.00p -4.73%
Calisen (CLSN) 160.15p -3.52%
Polypipe Group (PLP) 396.00p -3.30%
Centrica (CNA) 47.90p -3.23%
Equiniti Group (EQN) 113.80p -3.07%
IWG (IWG) 220.00p -2.48%
Ninety One (N91) 214.20p -2.37%
Avon Rubber (AVON) 3,230.00p -2.27%
