FTSE 250 shares round-up: Ceres Power among big winners

Solid oxide 1MW-scale electrolyser. Credit: Ceres Power Ltd.

Big moves by Ceres Power Holdings (LSE:CWR), Rank Group (The) (LSE:RNK) and Hollywood Bowl Group (LSE:BOWL) today provided more cheer for mid-cap investors after a run that has seen the FTSE 250 index add 8% in a fortnight.

The UK-focused benchmark’s level of 22,677 compares with the post-war low of 20,954 on 30 March and the year-to-date high of 23,757 set on the eve of the conflict on 27 February.

The recent performance is in line with the recovery of the S&P 500 index, which traded at a seven-month low of 6,343 on 30 March before a rally to last night’s 6967.38.

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As we reported yesterday, the defensive leaning and commodity-focused FTSE 100 began its rebound a week earlier and is up 7% from its low point of the year set on 23 March. 

All three indices consolidated their recent gains today after the price of Brent crude held its position near $95 a barrel on hopes of a second round of Middle East peace talks.

The sideways session for the FTSE 250 index masked significant share price gains for three of its smaller constituents, led by the clean energy firm Ceres Power.

Ceres, whose technology produces green hydrogen at high-efficiencies as a way to decarbonise emissions-intensive industries, followed yesterday’s 14% surge by adding 43.6p to 391.2p.

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The latest advance came as Ceres hosted a capital markets event in London, where it provided investors and City analysts with a greater insight into the near term demand for on-site power solutions across commercial, industrial and data centre markets.

Speakers included a representative from Centrica (LSE:CNA) as the two companies work on a collaboration aimed at providing the British Gas owner’s customers with a reliable, efficient source of on‑site power that can be up and running quickly.

Ceres also used today’s event to launch its next generation of solid oxide technology. Designed to support both power generation and hydrogen production markets, Ceres Endura focuses on durability, manufacturability and longer lifetime for partners deploying at scale.

No price-sensitive information was disclosed at the event, which took place three weeks after the company posted annual results.

The annual figures included the first-ever royalties after Doosan commenced production of stacks and fuel-cell power systems using Ceres’ technology at its 50 megawatt (MW) factory in South Korea.

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Rank Group shares jumped 11.8p to 102.2p after the Grosvenor casinos and Mecca bingo business reported a 5% rise in net gaming revenues to £205.4 million in the third quarter of its financial year.

While the Middle East conflict is set to create uncertainty around international travel, it expects that Grosvenor will continue to report revenue growth in the current quarter. 

This month’s hike in Remote Gaming Duty to 40% has weighed on shares since they traded at 160p in August. However, Rank said today that significant savings in above-the-line marketing spend, supplier costs and headcount reductions meant it expected to offset much of the increase.

Other positives in today’s update included the progress of Mecca towards the delivery of double-digit operating profit in 2026-27, while the group’s hedging policy means energy cost volatility is not expected to have a material impact on group profits for the current and next financial years.

Peel Hunt, which has a price target of 175p, believes the share price implies too much focus on the impact of UK remote gaming duty within Rank’s digital business.

The bank sees a clear route to the company’s £100 million operating profit ambition, which compares with guidance in today’s update for a 2025-26 figure of at least £68 million.  

The bank said: “Rank is benefiting from three crucial drivers of profit. The first is investment, well-executed by the established operational management team, in upgrading venues and in Rank’s tech platform.

“Second, and most importantly for the long term, in our view, is a transformative change to the number of gaming machines permitted in Grosvenor casino venues.”

The third factor mentioned by Peel Hunt is the elimination of bingo duty, which came into effect on 1 April.

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Hollywood Bowl shares are up 18% since 30 March, including today’s rise of 10.5p to 275p after the UK and Canada-based ten-pin bowling operator said demand for affordable family leisure activities continued to be robust.

Revenues increased 9.5% to £141.5 million in the six months to 31 March, including like-for-like growth of 1.9%. The estate currently stands at 77 UK and 16 Canadian centres.

Peel Hunt has a price target of 340p while counterparts at Berenberg are at 440p, noting that a current multiple of 11 times forecast earnings is a 29% discount to the 10-year average.

Berenberg said: “We think this is unwarranted for a market leader with an accelerating like-for-like sales growth profile and a resilient cost structure, while also bearing in mind the significant expansion opportunity available to it in Canada.”