Shares in meal voucher and employee benefits specialist Pluxee climbed on Thursday for their first trading session on the Paris Bourse, following the demerger from Sodexo.

At around 9:30 a.m., the stock - which is currently trading in the form of share promises - surged by more than 10%, while Sodexo's share price lost 0.6% at the same time, after taking the demerger into account.

The demerger, designed to revitalize the performance of both companies, marks the completion of a major strategic shift initiated two years ago.

The demerger was effected through the distribution to Sodexo shareholders of one Pluxee share for each share held, based on a reference price of 26 euros per share.

The Bellon family, which was behind the creation of Sodexo, will hold 42.8% of Pluxee's outstanding ordinary shares and around 60% of voting rights.

The group, present in 31 countries, is the second largest player in the sector worldwide, behind Edenred, with annual sales of 1.05 billion euros and over 5,000 employees.

Its financial objectives, presented at a Capital Markets Day last month, are to generate "double-digit" organic growth in sales by 2026, with an improvement in Ebitda margin.

At current share prices, Pluxee's market capitalization stands at 4.2 billion euros, compared with 11.5 billion for Sodexo.

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