Pluxee doubles margin growth forecast for 2025, shares jump

(Reuters) -French voucher and benefits company Pluxee doubled its margin growth forecast for 2025 on Thursday, as strong new clients acquisitions drive performance exceeding the targets set in its three-year strategic plan.

The company's shares rose 8.5% in early trading, topping the SBF 120 index of Paris' most traded stocks.

Pluxee 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%.

"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. "Mergers and acquisitions operations play a real accelerator role in the execution of our strategy."

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 completed in the second half of the fiscal year and to be accretive on the recurring core profit margin from year one, Pluxee said.

The former benefits unit of Sodexo 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.

"Our financial performance for the semester remains impressive, achieving low double-digit organic total revenue growth, despite a very high comparison base," Sonet said in a press release.

The organic 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.

Pluxee confirmed its full-year target for its organic revenue growth in a low double-digit percentage, after a 10.8% rise in the first half.

($1 = 0.8797 euros)

(Reporting by Dimitri Rhodes in Gdansk, editing by Milla Nissi)