The FTSE 250 loved a brilliant begin to 2024 however the momentum has fizzled out currently.

The index of medium-sized UK corporations is up 10.44% over 12 months, however it’s dropped 2.51% within the final six. It’s down 3.03% within the final month because the UK restoration slows.

Whereas blue-chips listed on the FTSE 100 generate 75% of their earnings abroad, many traders view the FTSE 250 as a home affair. But that’s not fully correct. Some 46% of turnover is generated from markets outdoors the UK.

I believe this makes it properly balanced to take benefit each of UK and worldwide progress alternatives.

A good time to purchase low-cost UK shares?

Sadly, the UK hasn’t been nice currently. GDP progress slumped within the third quarter, to simply 0.1%. The financial system truly shrank 0.1% in September.

And that was earlier than the Price range on October 30, which hit employers with further nationwide insurance coverage contributions totalling £25bn. That will squeeze margins and progress from April.

With rates of interest now anticipated to remain larger for longer, subsequent yr could also be powerful too. Housebuilders, retailers, pubs, eating places, monetary providers and property corporations are closely represented on the index, and will battle if charges keep excessive.

But a lot of the danger is priced in, with the FTSE 250 buying and selling on a median price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of simply 10.5. I’m used to it buying and selling nearer to 14 or 15 occasions earnings. For a long-term investor like me, I believe this can be a strong alternative to hop on board. There’s only one factor holding me again.

Sometimes, I desire to purchase particular person shares somewhat than trackers. Recently, I’ve had my eye on FTSE 250-listed Keller Group (LSE: KLG). It’s a ‘geotechnical specialist contractor’, which suggests it lays the foundations for development tasks, and operates worldwide.

I’d somewhat purchase shares in Keller Group

It’s the kind of firm that ought to do effectively when the worldwide financial system is booming, which it isn’t in the intervening time. Alternatively, with such an enormous market to focus on, this £1bn firm ought to be capable of discover greater than sufficient alternatives.

It had a blistering first half, with statutory pre-tax income leaping 121% to £95.3m and full-year efficiency “materially ahead” of expectations, in response to its 6 August replace.

I thought-about shopping for Keller on 22 September, however with its shares up 130% in a yr I feared momentum would possibly flag. I acquired that proper because the shares have dipped 10.78% within the final month, though they’re nonetheless up 78.66% over 12 months. Is that this a shopping for alternative for me? I believe so.

Keller depends on governments and companies funding new infrastructure tasks, which can sluggish in these troubled occasions.

On 14 November Keller stated it was nonetheless on monitor to hit a full-year expectations however the shares dipped on account of weak point in Europe. I’m now pondering the dip is a shopping for alternative with a P/E ratio of simply 9.5. That’s barely under the index common. The yield has edged up to three.03%.

I believe this can be a good time to think about a FTSE 250 tracker. However I believe it’s a fair higher time for me to purchase Keller Group. Which I’ll do once I’ve scraped collectively some money.