(BFM Bourse) – The company plans to raise up to €7 million via this IPO. The shares will be listed from 19 July on Euronext Growth.
It is a case that has come a long way, which is presented to the stock exchange in Paris. Vinpai, the specialist in natural ingredients for the food and cosmetics sector, announced on Thursday that it would go public on Euronext Growth, the section dedicated to small and medium-sized companies.
In early June 2022, the company, based in Saint-Dolay in Morbihan, announced its plan to go public. It had not acted on it in the weeks that followed and then changed its mind in light of market conditions that had deteriorated significantly. Markets had suffered a sharp sell-off amid fears of a recession, linked to actions by central banks to try to tame inflation at its highest in decades.
Ironically, Vinpai launched its IPO in a still gloomy market environment for the same reasons that prevailed a year earlier. The CAC 40 lost more than 3% Thursday at the close, its worst session since March 15. Despite these headwinds, the Breton company intends to raise between €5.5m and €7m, depending on the various extension terms, to finance its growth prospects and its working capital needs.
More natural on the plate
Founded in 2011, Vinpai – for Verbeïa (Celtic goddess of growth) ingredients Intermediate food product (PAI) – is a company that designs, produces and markets to professionals in the food industry, the base of daily consumer products, composed of algae, plants, minerals or fiber plants. The company intends to hold its own as consumers pay more and more attention to the quality of the food they eat or the cosmetic products they put on their skin. And that the players in the food industry and cosmetics understood it well.
These major trends are found in one of the markets where Vinpai is present: the market for nutraceuticals, which brings together the market for foods with an effect on health claims as well as dietary supplements, and the market for cosmetics, where natural products occupy an increasingly important place.
Vinpai thus offers agro-industrialists complete solutions of functional ingredients, i.e. which “not only allows manufacturers to replace chemical additives with natural formulations, but also, linked to know-how in the field of nutraceuticals, to increase the nutritional qualities of their finished products”.
Vinpai’s range of products includes turnkey preparations where all you have to do is add water or premixes when you start production at a customer’s site. The company also offers assistance with formulation, including advice on packaging the product until it is placed on the market. The company states that it has developed more than 3,500 formulas and recipes with multiple functionalities.
For example, its “Vin’fibra R50” product targets biscuit factories and greatly reduces the number of biscuit breakages on production lines. In cosmetics, the company markets algae-based peel-off masks as a white label, intended for the French and European markets.
Vinpai is present in more than 35 countries around the world and boasts nearly 160 active customers in its portfolio with a customer retention rate of over 80%. According to the company, this repeat of customers guarantees a constant increase in revenue.
Average annual growth of 50%
Vinpai thus indicates that they have achieved an average annual growth of 50.2% between 2017 and 2022. The turnover exceeded 6 million euros last year, against 1.22 million euros five years earlier. For the financial year 2023, the company already had a turnover of 4.1 million euros per June 30 and an order book that has been validated and is to be delivered of 6.5 million euros. However, the company still has a deficit. It had a net loss of 1.49 million euros in 2022 after 1.61 million in 2021.
She is also in a difficult financial situation. In its information document, Vinpai states that the IPO “represents the preferred solution for the company to obtain the necessary financing to meet its estimated cash needs and its development in light of its liquidity position”.
And it is partly to finance its need for current working capital and the increase in the latter linked to the growth the company expects that Vinpai is soliciting the markets as part of this IPO. Still on this financial aspect, the funds collected will also be allocated to the repayment of the debt incurred before the IPO.
They will also be dedicated to finance the build-up of Vinpai’s production volumes to meet orders from its key accounts. The conquest of new international customers is also a development axis that the Breton company prefers. Almost 50% of revenue in 2022 came from exports, most of which from major exports. The rest will be dedicated to strengthening the teams, but also to accelerate the development of new lines of ingredients.
Thus, Vinpai hopes to achieve a turnover close to 16 million euros by 2025, while achieving an EBITDA (gross operating profit) margin of more than 10% by this deadline, “driven by trends in strong and sustainable consumption and clear strategic axes to accelerate its commercial conquest.”
The company, which aims to accelerate its international growth and also relies on the “growth” cosmetics and skin care market, has priced its offer at €6.55 per share. stock. It has been open since Thursday and runs until July 12, 2023 in the evening for individuals, institutions can participate in this fundraiser until July 13 at 12.00, a small week to see in the file.
The company states that it has already received subscription commitments for an amount of 4.9 million euros – including 1.6 million euros by offsetting receivables – corresponding to 88.6% of the original amount of the offer.
The operation is therefore safe for Vinpai, which intends to join Groupe Berkem, a benchmark player in plant chemistry that entered the stock market in December 2021.
The company also hopes to repeat the same success as Osmosun. The offering from the specialist in low-carbon water desalination using solar energy has been a “strong” success, particularly among individuals. The operation was oversubscribed 1.6 times, the theme promoted by the company has really hit the mark in a context of strong tensions on water resources.
Will these two operations revive an IPO market that is still not very active? During the first half of the year, only three companies launched on the stock market, namely Lepermislibre, Florentaise and Mon courtier énergie, while the Verdemobil Biogaz and Planisware activities are still only at the project stage.
Sabrina Sadgui – ©2023 BFM Bourse