Laboratory testing services group Eurofins Scientific is set to join France’s top stock market index, buoyed by demand for COVID-19 testing.
Eurofins
ERF,
will replace IT tech group Atos
ATO,
in the CAC 40 on Sept. 17, Euronext announced. The testing company was ranked 29th by market cap as of Thursday, and its shares have surged 82% this year.
Eurofins first-half profit more than tripled to €582 million, on a 41% rise in revenue. The demand for COVID-19 testing is so strong the company also reports revenue outside the COVID-19 testing, where it delivered 17% organic growth in the first half.
Eurofins said it’s now completed over 25 million COVID-19 PCR tests since the start of the pandemic.
Atos, meanwhile, has slumped 44% this year, and recently cut its revenue and margin targets.
More broadly, European stocks rose on Friday in a quiet day of trading.
The Stoxx Europe 600
SXXP,
rose 0.3% to 468.88, as gainers included ASML Holding
ASML,
Siemens
SIE,
and Adidas
ADS,
Of the major regional indexes, the German DAX
DAX,
gained 0.4%, the French CAC 40
PX1,
increased 0.4% and the U.K. FTSE 100
UKX,
increased 0.4%.
This post was originally published on Market Watch
