Fyffes tops Iseq20 stock index
Fyffes has surged almost 49 per cent in 2016, with only a few days of trading left, lifted by news early in December that the tropical fruits group had received a €751 million takeover bid from Tokyo-based conglomerate Sumitomo Corporation, which is involved in everything from energy to Japanese shopping channels.
The McCann’s Balkan Investment vehicle, which owns 11.8 per cent of Fyffes, stands to make €87.5 million from the deal, which it is backing. Meanwhile, Total Produce, the fresh produce distributor which spun out of Fyffes a decade ago this week, has seen its stock jump 31 per cent in 2016, making it the second-best performer on the Iseq20. The McCanns hold a similar stake in Total Produce.
Meanwhile, CRH jumped more than 21 per cent during the year, benefiting from record acquisition spending in 2015, an expected earnings boost from US infrastructure spending, following Donald Trump’s election as the next US president, and promotion to the prestigious Euro Stoxx 50 index. The group’s €6.5 billion purchase of assets late last year from French and Swiss rivals Lafarge and Holcim – as they sought regulatory clearance for their merger – is seen by analysts as being transformational for Ireland’s largest publicly quoted company.
Kingspan and C&C, each of which rose almost 5 per cent, despite both being heavily exposed to the UK market in a post-Brexit world, round off the list of the five top gainers on the Irish index. Both stocks were initially among the worst hit by the UK referendum outcome.
Permanent TSB and Bank of Ireland have emerged as the two worst performers on the Iseq20, amid concerns over how they can rebuild their loan books following years of shrinkage, how they can build their lending margins further in a low-interest rate environment, and Brexit.
