Dubai: The second stock listing on Dubai Financial Market this month is done, with Union Coop going live on the board. The first one, by Tecom Group, happened July 5.
One of the biggest supermarkets retailers in Dubai, Union Coop started trade at Dh3.9, but in the first 15 minutes was down 17 per cent to Dh3.20. The stock is open only to its membership base.
Earlier, the Union Coop members saw a stock split, which saw each existing shareholders receive 10 new ones for each share they held. (No shareholder has more than 5 per cent of the company’s equity currently.)
“The opening price shall be defined according to the buy-and-sell orders during pre-trading of the first day of listing and no price limits will be applied during the first day,” said a statement. Price limits will be set from the second day.
Union Coop’s listing will set up options for some of the other big-name players in the hyper/supermarket space, notably for LuLu Group.
Shareholder/member structure
As a cooperative, Union Coop had 36,880 members – all UAE Nationals – on its books. “Membership is granted upon request to any UAE National that resides in Coop’s region of operation and meets the membership requirements specified in Articles of Association,” the company said in a filing prospectus.
The DFM app enabled Union Coop’s members to transfer into trading accounts from July 15.
Revenue dip
Union Coop closed last year with revenues of Dh2.21 billion against Dh2.24 billion the year before. Profit for the year was Dh413.18 million compared to Dh500.03 million in 2020. The retailer, which operates more than 20 locations in the city, has ongoing projects such as the Jumeirah Mall, currently in design preparation, and mall projects at Silicon Oasis and Al Nahda.
