Beyond Meat shares surge a day after debut results
Shares of plant-based burger startup Beyond Meat surged 27 per cent in pre-trading, a day after it debuted its earnings as a listed company.
The company estimates that it will double its sales this year as consumer interest in plant-based meat alternatives peaked in the first three months of the year.
Shares rose to $131.50 at the start of US trading.
The California-based firm said it expects to record revenue of $210m (£165m) in 2019, with break-even earnings, before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda).
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Revenues were driven primarily by a jump in sales of The Beyond Burger, which the firm says feels, smells and tastes like real meat but is made primarily out of pea protein and vegetable starches.
The company’s stock, which has a market value of $7.4bn, is up more than 400% since it went public at the beginning of May.
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Last week the company unveiled plans to build a new manufacturing facility in the Netherlands.
The company is working on making its plant-based products cheaper than animal protein.
Currently The Beyond Burger retails for roughly £22 per kilo, more than four times the cost of regular beef burger.
Beyond Meat, whose rivals include US-based Impossible Foods, is likely to face increasing competition in the niche market as companies like Nestlé and Tyson Foods ready their own line of products.
JPMorgan projects that the plant-based meat market could reach $100bn in the next 15 years and expect Beyond Meat’s sales to surpass $5b over this period.