Greencore cancels Irish listing and opts for London

GREENCORE IS to cancel its listing on the Irish Stock Exchange (ISE) despite previously indicating that it would maintain a secondary listing in Dublin.

The decision to leave the ISE has arisen due to liquidity criteria set out by the London Stock Exchange.

Among the criteria for listing in London is that companies must reach a certain liquidity threshold on that exchange. Most of Greencore’s shares are traded in Dublin, unlike CRH which already had significant liquidity in London.

CRH joined the FTSE 100 earlier this month, though it retained a secondary listing in Ireland.

A spokeswoman for Greencore said the company may consider a secondary listing in time.

The company expects to be listed on the FTSE SmallCap, rather than the FTSE 100 or FTSE 250 by March 19th, provided it meets routine regulatory requirements.

The FTSE SmallCap, which is a constituent of the FTSE All-Share Index, consists of companies outside of the FTSE 350 Index and represents about 2 per cent of the UK market capitalisation.

Greencore announced six months ago that it was to move its main listing to London following the acquisition of British sandwich-maker Uniq for £113 million (€128.5 million). Over 90 per cent of Greencore’s turnover is generated in the UK.

The company’s shares will trade in sterling, and dividends will be declared in that currency.

While the vast majority of Greencore’s shareholders are institutions, individuals who hold Greencore shares will see these automatically change to sterling.

Greencore’s ordinary shares will be cancelled on the Irish Stock Exchange on January 20th.

Greencore, which has seen its share price struggle over the past year, finished more than 5 per cent down in Dublin yesterday evening at €0.625.

Earlier this month, Greencore reported an 8.7 per cent rise in revenue to £804.2 million (€939 million) for the full year to the end of September, representing a 4.3 per cent rise on a like-for-like basis.

Greencore incurred an exceptional charge of £11.7 million during the year; this comprised a £19.4 million charge related to the proposed merger with Northern Foods, the acquisition of Uniq and other costs, offset by a once-off tax-related credit of £11.7 million.