Benchmark Holdings puts itself up for sale, shares jump

(Sharecast News) - Shares in Benchmark Holdings jumped on Monday after the UK-listed aquaculture services group kickstarted a formal sales process "The board believes that the current share price materially undervalues the combined value of Benchmark's businesses and the long-term prospects of the company, which may at least in part be due to the tightly held and illiquid nature of its ordinary shares," Benchmark said in a statement.

The company, which is a aquaculture genetics, nutrition, and health business, delivering biotechnology products and solutions to the aquaculture industry, said it is not yet in discussions with any parties and highlighted to shareholders that it cannot promise a sale would happen.

Benchmark Holdings floated on the AIM market in December 2013 but has seen its share price slide over 50% since then, even after Monday's 18% surge. The stock currently trades at 41.26p, giving a market capitalisation of just over £300m.

For its most recent financial year, ended 30 September 2023, Benchmark delivered 7% revenue growth, a 15% increase in adjusted EBITDA and improved its operational cash conversion from 35% to 58%, "demonstrating continued progress in the year despite challenging conditions in the shrimp sector, one of the company's core markets", it said.