FTSE 250 shares round-up: Softcat, Ithaca Energy, Moonpig

Beat-and-raise results by AI powered Softcat (LSE:SCT) and an upgraded dividend policy at high-yielding Ithaca Energy Ordinary Share (LSE:ITH) today delivered the cheer during a mixed session for mid-cap investors.

The FTSE 250 index shed more than 300 points from its mid-morning peak, with Ocado Group (LSE:OCDO), WPP (LSE:WPP) and Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings Ordinary Shares (LSE:AML) among the casualties of today’s broader market sell-off.

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The pain for shareholders of Hays (LSE:HAS) also continued as the recruitment firm traded at a new low of 33.1p, meaning shares have now shed 40% this year.

Softcat and Moonpig Group Ordinary Shares (LSE:MOON) held their gains from earlier in the session, with the online greetings card firm up 12.5p to 223.5p after its trading update provided reassurance on trading over the key period of Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day.

It expects to meet its guidance for the year to 30 April, with £60 million of share buybacks also a factor behind earnings per share growth at the top end of Moonpig’s 8%-12% range. It intends to extend buybacks by another £65 million in the new financial year.

Peel Hunt, which has a price target of 300p, said the update on buybacks suggested new chief executive Catherine Faiers will not move far from the existing capital allocation strategy.

The bank said shares were on a low double-digit price/earnings multiple, but that with a “dash of help from the consumer” any change in forecast momentum should mean a decent re-rating.

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Softcat led the FTSE 250 index as better-than-expected half-year results helped the IT infrastructure services firm to shake off some of the market’s recent AI-driven jitters.

Shares jumped 101p to 1,251p as underlying operating profit rose 27% to £93.8 million, which compared with the City’s consensus forecast of £81.7 million.

Faced with tougher comparatives in the second half, Softcat now expects high single-digit growth in operating profit for the full year compared with low single-digit growth seen previously.

Softcat said AI was reshaping customer priorities and that organisations of all sizes are now prioritising the building of the data, infrastructure and security foundations needed to deploy it effectively and at scale.

It highlighted the benefit of last year’s acquisition of data and AI consultancy Oakland, which it said had enabled it to engage earlier in customers’ transformation journeys.

Chief executive Graham Charlton added: “The market is still only in the early stages of the AI adoption cycle, creating significant long-term opportunities for Softcat.”

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City firm Berenberg said: “This was yet another excellent set of results from Softcat, especially within the context of a reseller environment that has been challenging for several years. ”

At last night’s level of 1,150p, Deutsche Numis said a multiple of 10.1 times forecast earnings was highly attractive for a quality compounder like Softcat.

The shares of Ithaca Energy fell 11.5p to 260p after the North Sea oil and gas firm posted a loss of $84.1 million (£63 million) for 2025. This reflected a $328 million one-off tax provision to cover the two-year extension of the UK’s Energy Profits Levy to March 2030.

The charge offset robust production guidance for 2026, alongside an upward revision to its dividend policy as Ithaca said it intends to target returns in the range of 20-35% of post-tax cash flow compared with 15-30% previously.

A dividend commitment of 30% for 2026 equates to a target range between $470-$520 million, which Ithaca said reflected the strong continued performance of its diverse asset base.

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The group, which has stakes in six of the 10 largest fields in the UK Continental Shelf, is set to distribute $200 million or 12.09 US cents a share next month as part of its previous commitment to hand over another $500 million in relation to 2025 trading.

Since its IPO in November 2022, Ithaca has declared or distributed $1.4 billion of dividends across three financial years. Based on Peel Hunt’s forecasts, the shares trade with a projected dividend yield of 10%.

The group supplied over 10% of the UK’s oil and gas production in 2025, which it said highlighted both the scale of its contribution and the material imbalance between domestic supply and consumption.

It said: “In a period of heightened geopolitical tension and global energy uncertainty, this reinforces the strategic importance of developing and sustaining the UK’s own resources to support energy resilience.”

Despite today’s fall, shares are up by more than 60% this year.