FTSE 250 round-up: Energean, Ithaca Energy, RS Group, Keller

Dividend updates from the North Sea’s Energean and Ithaca Energy  Ordinary Share today featured alongside robust sessions for RS Group and the top-performing mid-cap stock Keller Group.

RS led the FTSE 250 index by some distance as the reassuring tone of annual results and the disclosure of a £100 million share buyback plan helped the former Electrocomponents business resume the 2026 share price recovery that had been cut short by the Iran war.

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The industrial components supplier, which was founded as Radiospares in 1937 and listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1967, jumped 86p to 686.5p. This compares with 732p in early February and 1,252p when RS was a FTSE 100-listed stock in 2021.

RS’s outlook statement was slightly more confident than expected by analysts at Peel Hunt, who said that investors should also welcome signs of cost inflation being actively managed.

Pre-tax profits fell 1% to £246 million but were better than the City consensus of £242 million, while strong cash generation unlocked the £100 million share buyback plan.

Chief executive Simon Pryce said RS, which stocks over 875,000 industrial and specialist products sourced from over 2,500 suppliers, entered the new financial year with momentum after recent investments in customer-facing data, systems and processes.

Pryce added: “Two years of positive underlying progress, combined with disciplined cost control and a clear plan, increases our confidence in delivering our medium-term financial targets and sustainable returns.”

The full-year dividend has increased by 2% to 22.9p a share, which includes plans to pay 14.2p a share on 24 July.

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A strong AGM trading update today added to the feel-good factor for Keller Group shareholders ahead of next month’s receipt of a much bigger full-year dividend.

The planned distribution of 52.1p a share on 26 June represents a 57% increase on the previous year’s award after the world’s largest geotechnical specialist contractor sweetened its policy alongside record annual results published in March.

The group, which has a 31-year record of maintaining or growing its dividend since listing on the stock market, has benefited from key wins for its US foundations business across large infrastructure projects and data centres.

The order book has grown from the year-end £1.54 billion to £1.7 billion, while Keller said that higher energy and material costs have been offset by price increases and existing contract mechanisms.

The shares were today at 2,270p, having almost doubled in value between September and last week’s record 2,400p. Panmure Liberum maintained its Buy stance and target of 2,600p, regarding a valuation of 10 times forecast earnings as “too cheap given the positive momentum”.

Meanwhile, first-quarter trading updates in the oil and gas sector today produced mixed dividend news for the shareholders of Ithaca Energy and Energean.

North Sea-focused Ithaca reported a strong quarterly production performance and said higher commodity prices meant that the value of its 2026 dividend will likely move to the upper end of its guidance range of $470 million-$520 million.

This compares with 2025’s total of $500 million, including April’s distribution of $200 million.

The shares have rallied by 75% this year to 285.6p, which compares with a broadly flat performance by Energean after the Mediterranean and North Sea operator’s performance was impacted by geopolitical events.

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Group production in today’s first-quarter results fell 21% on a year earlier after operations in Israel were temporarily suspended for 41 days due to a directive from the country’s Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure.

Production has been in line with expectations since the re-start of operations on 10 April. Chief executive Mathios Rigas added: “Despite recent events, the business has proved to be resilient, demonstrated by our healthy liquidity and robust operational performance across the group.”

The company declared a dividend for the first quarter of 10 US cents a share, which compares with the 30 US cents paid on 30 March and results in a yield of 8.5% rather than 10%.

City firm Berenberg, which has a 765p price target and Hold recommendation, expects a return to 30 US cents from the second quarter. However, it said a sustained reduction in net debt is needed to boost its confidence in the delivery of increased shareholder returns.

Counterparts at Peel Hunt reiterated a 1,100p target price. They said: “Energean’s Q1 results were disrupted by geopolitics, but operational recovery, a stable balance sheet and advancing growth projects underpin the outlook.”