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A week to the day after pulling its London IPO because of “volatile” market conditions, Bakkavor has dramatically announced its listing is back on at 180p per share valuing it at just over £1bn.
The company will list 25% of its shares at 180p per share, valuing the group at £1.043bn – towards the lower end of the expected £1bn-£1.5bn valuation.
The shares are expected to begin trading at 8am on 16 November 2017.
Bakkavor will receive gross proceeds of £100 million from the offer, which will be used primarily to enable the Group to further invest in the business and reduce its current leverage
Agust Gudmundsson and Lydur Gudmundsson will own a collective 50.2% of the shares post-listing.
Simon Burke, chairman of Bakkavor, said: “The board and I are delighted to welcome our new shareholders. It is particularly pleasing that our initial register has such a strong presence of well-respected long-term investors, reflecting an appreciation of the quality of the business and its long-term prospects.”
Agust Gudmundsson, CEO of Bakkavor, said: “This IPO represents a significant milestone in the development of Bakkavor. Our passion for making the best tasting fresh prepared food, underpinned by our expertise and our focus on innovation, has made Bakkavor the clear leader in an attractive and fast-growing market. We are pleased that this has been recognised by the investor community and look forward to delivering further growth and success as a listed business.”
Morning update
Supermarket inflation has eased for the first time in five months as the trend of rapidly escalating shelf prices paused in October, according to the monthly Grocer Price Index.
Newly filed accounts show recipe box seller HelloFresh more than doubled UK sales last year, but investment in growth resulted in a 21% increase in losses. UK sales at Berlin-based HelloFresh, which floated on the Frankfurt stock exchange last week, leapt to £72.8m in 2016 from £35.2m in 2015.
Plus, fast-growing babyfood startup Piccolo has secured a six-figure injection from an Asian-focused venture capital fund to help the brand capitalise on booming demand in China. Meanwhile, as the deadline for Nisa members to vote on The Co-op’s £137m bid looms, the outcome is too close to call, say experts close to the deal.
See thegrocer.co.uk/finance for more on these stories later this morning.
On the markets this morning, the FTSE 100 has opened down 0.1% at 7,480.7pts.
Early risers include Nichols (NICL), up 3.8% to 1,786p, Premier Foods (PFD), up 1.3% to 38.75p and Majestic wine (WINE), up 1.2% to 370p.
Falllers include Science in Sport (SIS), down 1.8% to 70.2p, Applegreen (APGN), down 1.2% to 504p and Marks & Spencer (MKS), down another 1% to 321.9p.
Yesterday in the City
Sainsbury’s (SBRY) may have grown its first half like-for-like sales by 1.6%, but a dramatic slowdown of sales growth (0.6% compared to 2.3% in the first quarter) and a 9% drop in pre-tax profits worried the City yesterday. The supermarket ended the day down 1.8% to 229.2p – taking its share price loss for 2017 to more than 8%.
Dairy Crest boosted sales by boost sales by 16% in the first half thanks to “exceptional” sales of Cathedral City cheese, but concerns over sustainable volume growth amid high input prices saw the shares end trading 1.4% down at 581.5p.
Another notable faller was Marks & Spencer (MKS), dropping 2.4% to 325.2p as the City continues to digest its slowdown in food sales and expansion, but improving clothing business.
The FTSE 100 as a whole had a downbeat day, falling 0.6% to 7,484.1pts.
Other fallers included PZ Cussons (PZC), down 2.4% to 317.3p, B&M European Value Retail (BME), down 2.7% to 396.5p, Premier Foods (PFD), down 3.2% to 38.25p and Nichols (NICL), down 3.3% to 1,720p.
One FTSE 100 exception to the gloom was Coke bottled Coca-Cola HBC (CCH), which was up 1.3% to 2,593p after increasing revenues by 5% to €1.8bn in the third quarter as volumes rose 3.4%.
Also on the up was Greencore (GNC), up 1.6% to 192.8p, Hotel Chocolat (HOTC), up 2.9% to 371p, and Greene King (GNK), up 1.9% to 546.5p.
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