Graines Voltz shares soared on the Paris Bourse on Friday morning, buoyed by confirmation of its outlook for the current financial year, despite an economic environment described as 'difficult'.

The French group, which specializes in flower and vegetable seeds and seedlings, estimates - on the basis of available data - that its business should be stable for the financial year ending at the end of September.

In the first half of its 2023/2024 financial year, which ended at the end of March, sales came to 75.9 million euros, down 0.9% year-on-year.

Its operating income before non-recurring items came to 5.6 million euros in the first six months of the year, compared with 6.1 million euros a year earlier, down 8%.

The continuing difficult economic environment was compounded by extraordinary weather conditions, which had an impact on our customers' business, particularly in market gardening, where the season was slow to start", explained CEO Serge Voltz.

Despite this, Graines Voltz says it is focusing its efforts on the fundamentals of its management and operations, so as to be in a position to capture growth when the context makes it possible.

At around 11:10 am, the share price was up by almost 17%, the biggest gainer on a Paris market that was down slightly (-0.1%).

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