FTSE 250 movers: Telecom Plus dials in; Cussons slips on Nigeria hit

(Sharecast News) - Telecom Plus - which trades as Utility Warehouse - hailed record full-year profits, revenue and customer growth on Tuesday as it hiked its dividend.

In the year to the end of March, adjusted pre-tax profit rose 55% to £96.2m on revenue of £2.5bn, up from £967.4m a year earlier. Adjusted earnings per share were up 57% to 99.2p and the company lifted its full-year dividend to 80p a share from 57p a year earlier.

Telecom Plus pointed to record organic growth, with customer numbers up 22% to 886,579 and a 24% increase in the number of services supplied to 2.8m, as people looked to save on bills amid the cost-of-living and energy crisis.

Co-chief executives Andrew Lindsay and Stuart Burnett said: "This has been an outstanding year for the company: the fundamental strengths of our business model have reasserted themselves and delivered a strong outcome for all our stakeholders - particularly for our customers who benefitted from the lowest energy prices in the country throughout the year, saving over £30m on their bills.

"The recent fall in the Ofgem Price Cap is welcome news for UK households, although energy prices remain substantially above historical levels. When this challenge is combined with reduced government support, rising mortgage costs and continuing high inflation, the need for households to make savings across all their essential utilities has never assumed such high importance. As the UK's only multiservice utility provider, UW remains uniquely positioned to help households to do exactly that, and we have seen a strong start to the current year, with recent customer growth putting us firmly on track to meet our goals."

Utility Warehouse is a multiservice utility provider, which offers bundled household services - energy, broadband, mobile and insurance - through one account.

Consumer goods giant PZ Cussons said it expected to take a hit from the recent devaluation of the Nigerian naira, but would report higher annual sales and profits.

The Imperial Leather soap maker on Tuesday said it expected revenue for the year to May 31 of £655m and adjusted pre-tax profit of at least £70m, up from £67m a year earlier and against consensus estimates of £68.4m.

Recent liberalisation of Nigeria's foreign exchange regime has resulted in a devaluation of the local currency.

"We believe the medium-to-long-term prospects for our Nigerian business will be much improved by the economic reforms, currently being introduced by the new government," Cussons said, adding that it would offset higher raw materials costs with price increases.

"As a sensitivity, every 10% devaluation in the Naira from the rate used to translate the FY23 income statement is estimated to result in a £23m reduction in revenue, £3m reduction in adjusted operating profit, and 0.5 pence reduction in adjusted earnings per share," Cussons said.

Luxury car maker Aston Martin said it was on track to post annual adjusted profits of £500m and sales of £2bn, by 2025.

In a trading update before a presentation to investors, the company forecast it would "substantially achieve" those targets in 2024.

Aston Martin added new mid-term financial targets for 2027/28 of £2.5bn in revenue and adjusted core earnings of £800m.

FTSE 250 - Risers

Telecom Plus (TEP) 1,626.00p 7.68% Carnival (CCL) 1,038.50p 6.53% HICL Infrastructure (HICL) 128.80p 5.23% BBGI Global Infrastructure S.A. NPV (DI) (BBGI) 133.00p 4.89% Molten Ventures (GROW) 242.20p 4.22% Lancashire Holdings Limited (LRE) 564.50p 4.15% Abrdn Private Equity Opportunities Trust (APEO) 454.00p 3.77% Trainline (TRN) 237.00p 3.77% ICG Enterprise Trust (ICGT) 1,084.00p 3.24% International Public Partnerships Ltd. (INPP) 125.40p 3.13%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings (AML) 329.00p -9.22% PZ Cussons (PZC) 163.00p -6.86% Darktrace (DARK) 304.70p -5.84% 4Imprint Group (FOUR) 4,825.00p -2.33% Harbour Energy (HBR) 220.30p -2.18% Energean (ENOG) 1,007.00p -2.04% Future (FUTR) 637.50p -2.00% Capita (CPI) 27.40p -1.86% Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 1,784.00p -1.76% IWG (IWG) 131.60p -1.72%