FTSE 250 movers: Chemring slips, Trustpilot gains as CEO ups stake

(Sharecast News) - FTSE 250 (MCX) 21,903.76 -0.08%

Defence group Chemring fell despite reporting a sharp jump in annual profit as governments increased military spending amid the growing threat from Russia and dwindling support from the US under the Trump administration.

Pre-tax earnings for the year to October 31 surged 31% to £67.7m with Chemring's order book up by a fifth to £1.34bn as heightened geopolitical uncertainty drove increased expenditure across its target markets, particularly within Nato countries.

"Chemring is well positioned to capitalise on this demand, which we expect to persist well into the next decade," the company said.

"We have created a strong, sustainable platform for growth and remain committed to our ambition of doubling annual revenue to approximately £1bn by 2030."

Man Group was boosted by an upgrade to 'overweight' from 'neutral' at JPMorgan.

Trustpilot revealed on Tuesday that chief executive officer Adrian Blair had acquired 95,296 ordinary shares in the FTSE 250-listed review platform operator.

Blair, who took over as CEO in September 2023, purchased the shares at an average price of 156.60p each, for a total value of £149,201.77.

Trustpilot shares tanked last week after short seller Grizzly Research disclosed a short position in the shares and said it had uncovered "mafia-style" extortion campaigns against non-paying businesses.

Grizzly argued in a report that the review site's "extortion model" destroys the value proposition.

"According to our investigation, Trustpilot creates unsolicited review profiles for all kinds of businesses with the intention to attract hyper-negative reviews and force these businesses into paying subscription deals to 'more actively manage' the reviews," it said. "Paid-for profiles see their review score magically lift from under 2 of 5 stars to over 4 of 5 stars. Industry experts call this scheme the 'Trustpilot Mafia'."

Grizzly said reviewers find their genuine negative reviews "spuriously challenged" or removed for companies that pay Trustpilot.

On the other hand, it found countless obviously fake positive reviews and reviewers for paying companies.

"Trustpilot is either doing a very bad job at policing their website or is willfully negligent when convenient," it said.

Grizzly said Trustpilot seems to be most appreciated by companies who run "sketchy" business models. It added that many companies that are already shut down due to fraud "are somehow still extremely highly rated on Trustpilot".

Grizzl said: "We believe that the public will increasingly wake up to the fact that Trustpilot has traded the integrity of reviews for revenues.

"We see this resulting in a rapid depreciation of the Trustpilot brand and its fundamental value proposition."

Grizzly Resarch said Trustpilot always faced a fundamental conflict in its business model as a third-party review site that generates its revenues from selling subscriptions to companies.

"Trustpilot must balance the integrity of its reviews with the value they can provide to paying businesses," it said.

"We see simply not enough revenue potential in advertising or value in marketing analytics to sustain the business. We conclude Trustpilot has failed to balance this conflict, and, due to pressure to present investors with growing revenues and profits, has now gone all in on becoming the extortion racket that we describe in this report."

Trustpilot said in a statement: "The report presents a series of claims that are selective, misleading and framed to support a predetermined narrative.

"It omits key context and publicly available facts, creating a false impression and exhibits a lack of understanding of how Trustpilot works. Trust is our guiding principle and is central to everything we do."

FTSE 250 - Risers

Trustpilot Group (TRST) 160.60p 5.38% Helios Towers (HTWS) 166.00p 4.53% Man Group (EMG) 214.60p 3.27% Playtech (PTEC) 295.00p 3.15% Close Brothers Group (CBG) 473.80p 3.00% QinetiQ Group (QQ.) 433.60p 2.90% Baltic Classifieds Group (BCG) 187.00p 1.96% SDCL Efficiency Income Trust (SEIT) 53.65p 1.80% International Personal Finance (IPF) 205.00p 1.74% Paragon Banking Group (PAG) 815.50p 1.62%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Ceres Power Holdings (CWR) 318.40p -3.81% PayPoint (PAY) 444.00p -3.69% Chemring Group (CHG) 463.00p -3.64% Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 1,066.00p -3.09% Partners Group Private Equity Limited. (EUR) (PEY) 10.15p -2.40% Victrex plc (VCT) 646.00p -2.27% W.A.G Payment Solutions (EWG) 92.00p -2.13% Foresight Solar Fund Limited (FSFL) 63.80p -1.85% Spire Healthcare Group (SPI) 170.80p -1.84% Pagegroup (PAGE) 223.40p -1.67%