Nomad Foods Limited CEO Stéfan Descheemaeker and other members of the executive team inaugurated the January 13 trading session at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) by ceremoniously ringing the opening bell. The company, which owns a portfolio of leading frozen food brands in Europe that include Birdseye, Iglo, and Findus, was celebrating its listing transfer from the London Stock Exchange to the NYSE under the new ticker symbol NOMD.
“We are excited to begin regular trading of our shares on the New York Stock Exchange and are honored to ring the opening bell,” said Descheemaeker. “We believe that our successfully completed acquisitions of Iglo and Findus Group’s continental European business in 2015, and the synergies we are confident of delivering, have Nomad well-positioned to take advantage of long-term global growth opportunities within the frozen and packaged food space, specifically within Europe and the US. Our management team looks forward to the coming year, and we believe these transformative acquisitions, combined with our strategic vision for long-term growth, will lead to long-term value for shareholders as we strive to build a best-in-class global consumer foods company.”
The Feltham, UK-headquartered company, which employs approximately 4,300 people and has operations in 15 countries, generates about 85% of its sales in the United Kingdom, Germany, Austria and Italy. Its extensive retail product line ranges from fish, vegetables, poultry and snacks to ready meals and side dishes produced at 10 manufacturing plants in Britain and continental Europe.
Founded as a Tortola, British Virgin Islands-headquartered frozen food business acquisition vehicle without operational business by billionaires Noam Gottesman and Martin E. Franklin and listed on the London Stock Exchange in April of 2014, Nomad Foods posted third quarter 2015 financial results that showed a sales decline of 8.4% to EUR 315.5 million. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization fell 9.1% year on year to EUR 64.6 million. The downturn was largely attributed to a challenging environment beset with price cutting pressure from discount retailers.
NOMD stock closed at $12.30 per share on January 12, and was trading $11.84 when this story was filed shortly after noontime on January 13. Its high price point during the past 52 weeks was $22.11, while the low was $9.75.
