(Reuters) – French industrial laundry specialist Elis climbs on the stock market on Friday after announcing the end of its discussions with the American groups Vestis and UniFirst with a view to potential acquisitions.

At 2:39 p.m. GMT, the stock rose 14% on the Paris Stock Exchange, marking one of the best performances on the SFB 120 index, which rose 0.98% at the same time.

“These two discussions were terminated, neither of which allowed Elis to carry out a transaction consistent with its strict financial discipline,” the group said in a statement.

Elis confirmed in September that it was in discussions with Vestis, the former uniform rental division of Aramark, which has become a takeover target since its recent underperformance on the stock market linked to the loss of important customers.

In September, Reuters was the first to report the negotiations between the two groups, which caused Elis’s share price to fall by more than 16%.

The Bloomberg agency, for its part, reported Thursday, citing sources, that the French group had made an informal takeover proposal to UniFirst, a uniform rental company based in Massachusetts.

(Written by Diana Mandiá, edited by Blandine Hénault)

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