Birkenstock shares slide in NYSE debut

Shares in German footwear specialist Birkenstock fell over 10 percent on its first day of trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

The company had set its initial public offering (IPO) price at 46 dollars per share – just below the middle of its previously announced target price range of between 44 dollars and 49 dollars.

However, its share price fell almost 13 percent to 40.04 dollars on Wednesday, before increasing slightly to end the day at 40.20 dollars per share.

At closing, the company had a valuation of around 7.55 billion dollars.

The company raised almost 1.5 billion dollars from the stock placement. About a third of that will reportedly be used to repay debt, with the rest going to private equity owner L Catterton.

The news comes amid a volatile IPO market, which has been impacted by a backdrop of economic uncertainty and tighter consumer budgets.

Birkenstock debuts on NYSE

Plans for Birkenstock’s IPO were confirmed early in September when the company said it had publicly filed a registration statement on Form F-1 with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The announcement confirmed media speculation that majority shareholder L Catterton was mulling a move to take the company public.

That same month, Birkenstock revealed that revenue for the six months to March 31 increased 19 percent to 644.17 million euros.

However, net profit in that period narrowed to 40.2 million euros from 73.5 million euros.

For the year ended September 2022, the company generated revenue of 1.24 billion euros, up 29 percent from the 962 million euros it made a year earlier.

It also swung to a net profit of 187.1 million euros from a loss of 17.2 million euros the prior year.

Birkenstock was founded in 1774 by Johann Adam Birkenstock.