FTSE 250 movers: CMC surges; Ceres slumps

(Sharecast News) - FTSE 250 (MCX) 23,245.19 0.25%

Shares in CMC Markets surged on Thursday as the financial services company said it expected fiscal 2027 net operating income to beat forecasts after posting a rise in profits for the 12 months to March 31.

It now expected a rise of at least 17% to £460m - £480m compared with company-compiled analyst expectations of £385.5m.

Pre-tax earnings grew 20% to £101.3m, although this was below forecasts of £106m due to remediation charges in Australia after a regulatory review, and net operating income 15% to £392.6m driven by volatile markets.

Institutional and business-to-business income continued to scale during the year, supported by strong momentum from the neobank API partnership and ongoing diversification of the group's earnings base, CMC said on Thursday.

It produced a record performance in its Australian stockbroking business, with net operating income of AUD $140.3m, up 32% year-on-year, supported by continued growth in client activity and assets under administration.

Group core earnings rose to £117.8m from £103.4m, with strong performance from treasury management and capital markets which delivered disciplined yield and liquidity optimisation, including approximately £5.5m of treasury-related trading income.

"The group has made a positive start to FY2027, with net operating income supported by continued momentum across institutional and B2B partnerships, an increasingly diversified product offering and sustained client activity," the company said in a statement.

Ceres Power slumped after a rating downgrade at Panmure Liberum.

"To be crystal clear, we still believe in Ceres technology," the broker said. "However, as the shares are now up 8x in just 12 months and 244% year-to-date - we also believe this share price now ignores execution risks.

"These include: 1) Ceres relies on partners to scale manufacturing, limiting control over the pace of commercial rollout; 2) Early SOFC (solid oxide fuel cell) production remains operationally challenging, with yields and costs taking time to stabilise; and 3) Conventional power technologies may catch up before Ceres' ecosystem scales sufficiently.

"As a result, we move from buy to sell with a target price of 590p (from 475p)."

Panmure said that more partner progress and/or a rebasing of the share price would make it bullish again.

FTSE 250 - Risers

CMC Markets (CMCX) 440.50p 19.70% B&M European Value Retail (BME) 206.20p 6.65% Trustpilot Group (TRST) 250.80p 4.09% Ninety One (N91) 220.80p 4.06% GB Group (GBG) 195.00p 4.06% HGCapital Trust (HGT) 400.50p 3.63% Hays (HAS) 34.40p 3.18% Bytes Technology Group (BYIT) 378.80p 3.16% Harworth Group (HWG) 129.40p 2.86% Oxford Biomedica (OXB) 588.00p 2.80%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Ceres Power Holdings (CWR) 692.50p -11.67% Raspberry PI Holdings (RPI) 825.50p -5.91% Foresight Environmental Infrastructure Limited (FGEN) 80.50p -3.25% Partners Group Private Equity Limited. (EUR) (PEY) 8.76p -3.10% Polar Capital Technology Trust (PCT) 705.00p -2.95% AEP Plantations (AEP) 1,594.00p -2.80% Baillie Gifford Japan Trust (BGFD) 978.00p -2.78% Allianz Technology Trust (ATT) 734.00p -2.65% Marshalls (MSLH) 132.30p -2.65% Patria Private Equity Trust (PPET) 604.00p -2.58%