FTSE 250 shares round-up: best and worst performers
City writer Graeme Evans looks at a mid-cap boasting double-digit gains this session, plus another that’s just slumped to a two-year low.
4th December 2025 15:45
by Graeme Evans from interactive investor
Strategic progress by SSP Group (LSE:SSPG) and a more uncertain outlook at Baltic Classifieds Group (LSE:BCG) today left their shares as the best and worst performers of a packed session for mid-cap updates.
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On a day when investors also heard from Frasers Group (LSE:FRAS), Watches of Switzerland Group (LSE:WOSG), Balfour Beatty (LSE:BBY) and Future (LSE:FUTR), the travel-focused caterer SSP surged to the top of the FTSE 250 index.
The Upper Crust and Ritazza business bolstered earnings guidance for the new financial year and said it was looking at two additional levers for driving shareholder value creation.
The first involves a wide-ranging review of its continental European rail division, where the slow return of passenger numbers since Covid has contributed to underperformance.
It is also looking at options to realise value for SSP shareholders from subsidiary Travel Food Services, which began trading on the Indian stock market in November.
SSP, which holds a 50.01% stake, is working with its TFS partner K Hospitality as they seek to harness a “compelling opportunity” for growth.
Today’s annual results were in line with October’s year-end update, when shares fell sharply on softer demand conditions in some of SSP’s key travel markets. These included North America, where passenger numbers were lower in the second half.
Like-for-like sales rose 4% in the year to 30 September, alongside margin accretion of 30 basis points to 6.1%. Operating profit lifted 12.7% at constant exchange rates to £223 million.
Earnings per share improved 25% to 11.9p, with guidance for 2026 now towards the upper end of the 12.9p-13.9p range indicated in October.
Chief executive Patrick Coveney said: “We have made an encouraging start to the 2026 financial year, with like-for-like sales growth now positive in all regions and tracking at 4% year-to-date for the group as a whole.”
A dividend of 2.8p a share is due to be paid on 27 February, lifting the total for the year by a fifth amid confidence in future cash generation. Shares rose 19p to 167.1p.
House broker Shore Capital said SSP’s current valuation failed to reflect the long-term structural attractions of the global aviation industry, the 50% stake in TFS, improving cash flows and the margin recovery opportunity in Europe.
It added: “We see today’s results as supportive of these attractions and opportunities.”
Today’s slide for Baltic Classifieds means the shares have now lost more than 40% of their value this year, driven by industry-wide concerns about AI disruption and sustainability of margins.
The group, which owns and operates 14 online classifieds portals in Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia, lifted revenues in the six months to 31 October by 7% to 45 million euros (£39.3 million) and adjusted earnings by 7% to 35 million euros (£30.5 million).
Real estate grew by 20% but the auto segment was impacted by the introduction of a new vehicle tax in Estonia at the start of the financial year.
The company expects second-half revenue growth to exceed the 7% achieved in the first and for the figure to accelerate back into double digits for the 2027 financial year.
It said investment in data and AI made some margin compression inevitable but that this figure is set to remain in the mid-70s per cent.
The shares fell 31.5p to 188p, which compares with Peel Hunt’s target of 335p.
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The broker said: “The company has provided lower clarity in its outlook than usual, mainly due to reduced visibility on listings within Real Estate and Jobs & Services. We believe this has led to share price weakness today, but we view these issues as transitory.”
Panmure Liberum lowered its valuation by 31% to 265p but said the company’s “enormous” derating had vastly outpaced the decline in Baltic’s prospects and was pricing an even more miserable outcome than the broker’s own forecasts.
It added: “We don’t think Baltic’s business model is broken; but we do now expect revenue growth to step down toward 12% in the medium term, with free cash flows lagging due to margin pressures from maintained investment levels and lower revenue growth.”
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