Endeavour Group commenced trading on the Australian Securities Exchange at midday on Thursday with shares opening at $6.60, band closing out the day at $6.02
The bell ringing ceremony at the Exchange Centre was postponed due to Covid-restrictions in Sydney and so Endeavour Group’s team members across the country were invited to join a livestream broadcast at 12pm AEST, during which ASX officials welcomed Endeavour Group to take its place amongst the ASX200.
“It’s my pleasure to welcome you to today’s virtual – unexpectedly – listing ceremony for Endeavour Group Limited to be trading under the ticker code EDV,” said ASX Limited’s Senior Manager Issues Services Giri Tenneti, joining the livestream from her home.
The team were able to watch the trade screen as it for the first time showed Endeavour Group – under the ticker EDV – trading on the Australian stock market.
Endeavour Group’s Managing Director and CEO Steve Donohue said, “At its core Endeavour is a people business with a proud history and home to some of Australia’s best known brands like Dan Murphy’s and BWS, as well as over 330 local hotels across Australia. Today is a celebration of that connection to team and community…
“It’s obviously a very historic day for all of us at Endeavour Group, we are not to be foiled by Covid. If you think about our journey as a team, we were planning to get this demerger done quite a while ago but obviously Covid got in the way the first time around. We weren’t going to let it get in the way the second time around!” Mr Donohue said
The listing of Endeavour Group shares follows Woolworths shareholders overwhelmingly voting in favour of demerging the Endeavour Group last week. A decision that Woolworths Group CEO Gordon Cairnes said was “five years in the making”.
Peter Hearl was appointed Chairman-elect in late 2019. Ahead of opening trade he said: “Joining the ASX under our own name and as a standalone business marks the next chapter in Endeavour Group’s evolution. On behalf of the entire Board, it is a privilege to be a part of such a milestone, and we welcome and thank our new shareholders for joining us on this journey.”
Shares are expected to be transferred to eligible shareholders on 1 July, at which time commencement of trading on a normal settlement will occur.
Endeavour Group is valued at $12 billion, it employs more than 28,000 people and its portfolio of brands includes Dan Murphy’s and BWS, the nation’s largest portfolio of licensed hospitality venues, with 1,962 stores and venues across Australia. ALH, owns 12,000 electronic gaming (poker) machines across 330 hotels, including 52 hotels and 1390 poker machines in NSW. Cairns restated at the AGM that revenue from gaming sits at around $700 million annually.
The business growth is expected to come from future pub (and pokie) acquisitions and and an acceleration in e-commerce with online sales making up less than 10 per cent of the business’ revenue.
