The FTSE 250 is home to a handful of small quality growth firms, in my opinion. What’s more, these stocks are typically valued a lot more cheaply than in the US.
Here are three UK growth shares to check out in April.
Moonpig
Moonpig (LSE:MOON) is the UK and Netherlands’ leading online greeting card firm, with over 12m active customers.
I’m one of these customers, and I use it all the time to send personalised cards. And I’m not alone because Moonpig enjoys tremndous loyalty, with roughly 91% of revenue coming from existing customers.
Looking ahead, this should create a solid base for continued expansion. For fiscal year 2026, ending 30 April, the firm expects adjusted earnings per share growth to be as much as 12%.
The stock’s trading at 11.5 times forward earnings, which is attractive considering the board just announced a new £65m share buyback programme for FY27. There’s also a near-2% forward dividend yield, which could grow nicely over time (no guarantees, of course).
One potential risk I see is further pressure on consumer budgets (sadly, a common theme today). However, UK online card penetration is still only 6% by value, suggesting there’s a strong secular growth story unfolding here.
Hollywood Bowl
Next, we have Hollywood Bowl (LSE:BOWL), the UK’s largest ten-pin bowling operator. The stock’s also trading at around 11.5 times forward earnings, but offering a much larger 5.1% forecast yield.
Beyond the income potential, I like the company’s growth prospects. By 2035, it expects to have 130 centres, up from 93 today. And a growing number are expected to be in Canada, where it’s successfully applying its UK expansion playbook.
Again, consumer spending pressure is the biggest risk, exacerbated by rising inflation. But in the six months to 31 March, revenue rose 9.5% to £141.5m, with 2.6% like-for-like sales growth in the UK.
Therefore, the company’s showing resilience in a tough market. It makes me wonder how well this business could do in future if and when the cost-of-living crisis eases.
Genus
The third stock is animal genetics specialist Genus (LSE:GNS). The stock’s up 62% in one year but down 50% over five.
Now, this one isn’t conventionally cheap because it’s trading at 25 forward earnings. However, the long-term growth could be substantial due to the company’s PRRS-resistant pig programme (PRP).
What on earth is that? Well, PRRS (porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome) is a devastating viral disease that causes reproductive failure in sows and respiratory illness in piglets. It has long been the bane of the global swine industry (losing around $1.2bn per year in the US alone).
Genus has used gene-editing (CRISPR) technology to produce PRRS-resistant pigs. Canada has approved use of the PRP gene edit, while Genus is making progress with other key international regulators, including China, Mexico, and Japan.
Of course, the big risk here is Chinese or US regulators rejecting these gene-edited pigs. But brokers are getting excited about the potential for high-margin royalties from this programme.
For example, house broker Panmure Liberum recently told clients: “We remain of the view that Genus is a multi-year growth story and that it stands a reasonable chance of being a FTSE 100 stock by 2030.”
That’s an exciting prospect, considering Genus’ current £1.7bn market cap.
