FTSE 250 movers: Wickes tanks; Greggs on the menu

(Sharecast News) - FTSE 250 (MCX) 22,488.80 -1.40%

Shares in Greggs jumped on Tuesday as the bakery chain held annual guidance and said like-for-like sales at the start of the year had improved but also warned that Iran war could push costs higher by the end of this year.

Like-for-like sales had FL sales rose at company-managed shops rose 3.3% in the latest 10 weeks of its financial year, supported by new menu items such as chicken rolls and salads.

"We have also strengthened our hot food and pizza offer with introductions such as the Tandoori Chicken Pizza Slice, expanding choice with bolder, contemporary flavours," the company said in a trading update on Tuesday, sending Greggs shares up 5% in early trade.

However, it warned that should the war become prolonged the food retail industry "will likely see higher overall cost inflation through the end of 2026 and into 2027".

The US-Israeli war on Iran and Lebanon has further dented UK consumer confidence and led to higher energy costs as shoppers cut back on discretionary spending.

"Our forward buying of key commodities continues to provide protection against increased inflation in the near term; we have forward purchase agreements in place representing circa five months of cover for our food and packaging needs and 85% of our 2026 energy and fuel requirements are fixed in price. In addition, circa 50% of our 2027 energy and fuel requirements are fixed," Greggs said.

Shares in DIY retailer Wickes Group tanked on Tuesday, after unseasonably wet weather dampened first-quarter sales.

Updating on trading in the 17 weeks to 25 April - which included the long Easter weekend, a key time of the year for many DIY retailers - Wickes said group revenues had risen 1.3% to £537m but fallen 0.1% on a like-for-like basis.

Within that, design and installation sales rose 4.3% to £145m. But in retail, its largest unit, they fell 1.7% to £392m, after "exceptional rainfall" weighed on demand for outdoor projects.

It also noted that while the number of overall design and installation projects in 2026 so far had grown, orders for bespoke kitchens had slowed, "as customers are being more considered in their overall project spend. Ordered sales by value for the period were therefore slightly lower than in the same period last year."

The chain, which had 230 right-sized stores, said it remained "comfortable" with market forecasts for full-year adjusted pre-tax profits ranging from £54m and £59.4m. It also reiterated plans to accelerate investment in its store rollout strategy, and flagged ongoing demand from trade customers. TradePro sales rose 4% year-on-year during the period.

However, that did not stop the shares falling sharply in morning trading, and by 1100 BST the stock had tumbled 12% to 178.84p.

David Wood, chief executive, said: "We are pleased to have achieved further volume growth in the first 17 weeks of the year. Our proven growth strategy gives us added confidence as we accelerate our new store rollout and refresh programme."

Shore Capital, which has a 'buy' rating on the stock, said: "Despite the softer sales, we are pleased to see that management remain comfortable with consensus.

"While concerns around a softer market may lead to some weakness today, we still see the opportunity for ongoing growth via continued market shares gain in the medium term."

Trustpilot was knocked lower by a downgrade to 'equalweight' from 'overweight' at Morgan Stanley.

The bank said Trustpilot remains the clear leader in horizontal consumer reviews where consensus estimates have accelerated in the face of AI disruption. It noted that FY25 results set explicit adjusted EBITDA margin targets of 25% by FY28 and 30% by FY30, versus 15.6% in FY25.

"We continue to believe that path is achievable, with the recent Trust capital markets day reinforcing our view that AI is a net positive for Trustpilot by increasing the value of scaled trust infrastructure as fake content becomes harder to police."

However, following a circa 60% year-to-date share price jump, much of that medium-term upside is reflected in the shares, Morgan Stanley said.

The bank lifted its price target on Trustpilot to 275p from 265p and raised its FY28 adjusted EBITDA margin forecast to 24.9% from 24.5%, but said that with consensus already close to management's 25% target (24.4%), this only implies circa 2-3% upside to targets.

"That leaves a tighter margin of safety given ongoing execution risk around enterprise adoption and scaling profitability in newer markets," it said.

"Trustpilot trades on a circa 25% premium to the software basket (versus circa 50% discount in December) and also screens at a premium to the broader network-effect peers on a price-to-growth basis," the bank said. "Therefore, while we view the relative re-rating as justified, we believe the risk/reward is now more balanced and move to equal-weight."

FTSE 250 - Risers

Greggs (GRG) 1,615.00p 6.11%

Bytes Technology Group (BYIT) 329.40p 3.46%

CVS Group (CVSG) 1,142.00p 2.06%

Worldwide Healthcare Trust (WWH) 344.00p 1.63%

Hochschild Mining (HOC) 691.50p 1.62%

Telecom Plus (TEP) 1,048.00p 1.35%

Pantheon International (PIN) 384.50p 1.32%

Pan African Resources (PAF) 157.30p 1.22%

Diversified Energy Company (DI) (DEC) 1,164.00p 1.22%

Ithaca Energy (ITH) 272.40p 1.04%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Wickes Group (WIX) 180.60p -11.43%

Trustpilot Group (TRST) 241.20p -8.12%

Trainline (TRN) 199.50p -8.06%

Moonpig Group (MOON) 201.60p -7.68%

Raspberry PI Holdings (RPI) 684.25p -4.90%

WH Smith (SMWH) 468.80p -4.73%

TBC Bank Group (TBCG) 4,400.00p -4.59%

WPP (WPP) 257.70p -4.59%

Grafton Group Ut (CDI) (GFTU) 820.40p -4.48%

OSB Group (OSB) 489.20p -4.42%