French voucher firm Pluxee raises full-year guidance again

(Reuters) -French voucher and benefits company Pluxee upgraded its full-year organic revenue guidance for a second time this year on Wednesday after strong third-quarter growth driven by Latin America and other non-European markets.

Pluxee posted better than expected quarterly organic revenue growth of 17.9% to 297 million euros ($320.52 million), with a more than 16% increase in Latin America and a more than 42% jump in the rest of the world outside Europe.

That offset more moderate growth in Europe of 8.1%.

CEO Aurelien Sonet said momentum was "further amplified" by its recent agreement to acquire Cobee, a Spanish digital player in employee benefits.

The acquisition will offer geographic diversification as meal voucher firms face concerns regarding regulation and political uncertainty in France.

Cobee is expected to deliver 100% organic revenue growth in 2024, it said.

The French voucher company also said it had concluded a 25-year exclusive distribution agreement with Santander in Brazil, providing access to more than 1.4 million customers of one of Brazil’s largest private banks.

Pluxee, which is present in 31 countries and has more than 500,000 clients, is the biggest listing by market cap on Euronext so far this year, offering hope for recently sluggish European capital markets.

The group, which was spun off from Sodexo, now expects 2024 organic revenue growth of about 18%, it said, against previous guidance for 15-17%.

It had already raised that guidance in April from the low double-digit percentage increase it forecast in January.

The French voucher company maintained its annual margin objective for earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation and mid-term targets.

($1 = 0.9266 euros)

(Reporting by Alban Kacher and Michal Aleksandrowicz; Editing by David Goodman and Jan Harvey)