Bill Ackman (Trades, Portfolio), the investor whose Pershing Square has suffered double-digit losses over the past year, has owned a large chunk of Nomad Foods Ltd. (NOMD, Financial), he reported today.
The filing shows Ackman with 33,333,334 shares of the company on Dec. 31. The company’s stock closed at $12 per share that day, and has had a precipitous 40% decline year to date. It closed Friday at $7.20 per share.
Ackman’s Nomad holding, making up 2.72% of his long portfolio, would likely have dragged on his returns. Pershing was down 18.6% for January, extending his 20.5% loss for the full year 2015, as the stock prices of other positions like Valeant (VRX, Financial) and Canadian Pacific Railroad (CP, Financial) cratered.
Nomad, with a $1.2 billion market cap, produces frozen food in Europe, focusing on markets in the UK, German and Italy. It owns the brands Birds Eye in the UK and Ireland, and acquired Germany, Austria and Portugal’s Iglo, and Findus Group’s Continental European Business, which has market positions in France, Sweden and Spain, in 2015.
The company’s shares began trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Jan. 12 after transferring its listing from the London Stock Exchange.
In the third quarter Nomad had revenue of 315.5 million and 6.3 million in profit after tax, compared to no revenue and a loss after tax of 0.3 million.
Stéfan Descheemaeker, Nomad Foods' Chief Executive Officer, said in the related release:
"Our overall third quarter performance was in-line with our expectations at the time of the acquisition of the Iglo Group, taking into account the continuing difficult retail environment across our three largest markets. As we look forward to fiscal 2016, we are confident our revised strategy (shift from innovation to renovation, revenue management focus, recalibration between local and global), our renewed cost savings program and our management changes will enable us to improve results and take advantage of the growth opportunities in Europe."
Ackman reported his stake in the company as passive.
See Bill Ackman (Trades, Portfolio)'s portfolio here.
