By Dimitri Rhodes
(Reuters) -French voucher and benefits company Pluxee doubled its margin growth forecast for 2025 on Thursday, as strong new client acquisitions drive performance exceeding the targets set in its three-year strategic plan.
The company’s shares rose 12% by 0839 GMT, topping the SBF 120 index of Paris’ most traded stocks.
The former benefits unit of Sodexo expects its recurring core profit margin to grow by 150 basis points (bps) in the year through August 31. It had previously said it would grow by 75 bps from last year’s margin of 35.6%.
“Pluxee had a strong H1 print, delivering a better operating revenue growth than peer Edenred, notably thanks to its higher Latam exposure,” analysts at Stifel said in a note to investors.
Benefits providers like Edenred and Pluxee are increasingly relying on tertiary geographies like Latin America to drive profits, as they cope with slowdowns in their main business regions amid rising economic uncertainty.
“The growth of our activities was also driven by the initial positive effects of the deployment of our M&A strategies,” CEO Aurélien Sonet told journalists in a wire call.
The integration of Santander’s employee benefit activity in Brazil and the recent acquisition of Cobee in Spain contributed positively through growth synergies and scope effects.
The acquisition of Benefício Fácil, which provides commuter benefits in Brazil, is set to be closed in the second half of the fiscal year and to be accretive on the recurring core profit margin from year one, Pluxee said.
It posted recurring operating earnings before depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of 225 million euros ($255.8 million) for the first six months of the year, beating analysts’ forecast of 219 million euros. Its margin was 35.4% in the same period.
Organic revenue growth was driven by a strong performance in Employee Benefits, Pluxee’s biggest unit that saw its like-for-like revenue grow 11.8% in the period, compared with 10.8% growth for the whole group.
($1 = 0.8797 euros)
(Reporting by Dimitri Rhodes in Gdansk, editing by Milla Nissi)
