What's Cooking? rises as price hikes boost H1 results, confidence in FY guidance

Whats Cooking NV

25/08/2023 10:30

** Shares in Belgium's What's Cooking?  WHATS.BR  rise 4.7%
after the ready meals company posted a year-on-year increase in
H1 core profit  helped by price hikes   
    ** "Nice H1 results," KBC says, flagging EBITDA, which rose
18.6% to 20 million euros ($21.58 million)
    ** The brokerage upgrades its rating for the group to
"accumulate" from "hold", citing the company's
better-than-expected FY outlook on the back of solid H1 results
    ** What's Cooking? said it remains confident that its
underlying EBITDA for 2023 will be between that of 2021 and 2022
    ** The guidance is between a wide range of EUR 52.8 mln and
38.1 mln, KBC notes, adding KBC's estimate was below that range,
at EUR 36.6 mln 
    ** KBC also points out the valuation of What's Cooking?,
whose shares fell sharply after it pulled out in June of its
planned acquisition of Sigma's operations in Belgium and the
Netherlands
    ** The stock, down by about 10% YTD, is on track for its
best day in about 4 months 
    
($1 = 0.9270 euros)

 (Reporting by Olivier Sorgho)
 ((Olivier.Sorgho@thomsonreuters.com))