FTSE 250 movers: Hays tumbles after loss; Trainline slumps again
By Frank Prenesti
Date: Thursday 20 Aug 2026
(Sharecast News) - FTSE 250 (MCX) 24,509.46 -0.54%
Hays shares fell on Thursday after the recruiter said it swung to a full-year pre-tax loss due to restructuring charges, although there was an improvement in underlying profit.
In the year to the end of June, the company swung to a statutory pre-tax loss of £54.5m from a profit of £1.5m a year earlier.
Net fees declined 8% to £905.5m and the dividend per share was cut to 0.44p from 1.24p.
Hays said it had made "excellent" progress against its FY29 structural cost savings ambition with around £50m annualised savings secured three years ahead of schedule. Due to these and other actions, however, it incurred a £89.6m exceptional charge.
Operating profit before exceptional items rose 3% to £48.6m.
Hays said temporary & contracting and permanent recruitment net fees fell 5% and 12% respectively. Although temporary & contracting net fees were relatively resilient through the year, permanent recruitment was subdued, Hays said, as it saw modestly lower activity and placement conversion through the year in markets outside North America, Southern Europe, and Asia. This more than offset improvements to its mix and pricing.
Chief executive Mark Dearnley said: "We delivered a return to strong year on year profit growth in the second half with full year pre-exceptional operating profit increasing by 3% although reported results were impacted by exceptional costs related to the rapid initial execution of our Momentum strategy."
Oil producers gained in line with a rising crude price with Harbour and Ithaca both up.
Trainline's woes continued after Wednesday's news that the UK competition regulator had started a probe into its pricing practices despite the company receiving a written warning. The stock was down 10% again after slumping 15% in the previous session.
FTSE 250 - Risers
Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) 149.90p 7.37%
Ithaca Energy (ITH) 268.80p 4.35%
Michael Page (PAGE) 219.20p 3.78%
Energean (ENOG) 780.00p 3.58%
Pan African Resources (PAF) 122.30p 3.55%
Playtech (PTEC) 392.80p 3.20%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 570.50p 2.98%
Syncona Limited NPV (SYNC) 109.00p 2.83%
Kainos Group (KNOS) 1,243.00p 2.80%
Harbour Energy (HBR) 264.80p 2.80%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Trainline (TRN) 184.10p -11.83%
Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings (AML) 33.90p -5.99%
Currys (CURY) 147.90p -5.19%
Dr. Martens (DOCS) 81.40p -4.91%
Hays (HAS) 67.50p -4.69%
XPS Pensions Group (XPS) 320.00p -3.18%
Plus500 Ltd (DI) (PLUS) 3,660.00p -2.86%
HGCapital Trust (HGT) 423.00p -2.76%
Victrex plc (VCT) 811.00p -2.76%
XP Power Ltd. (DI) (XPP) 1,768.00p -2.75%
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