FRANKFURT, Aug 24 (Reuters) - A September stock market listing remains an option for German meal kit delivery company HelloFresh, its chief executive told Manager Magazin, saying he was not swayed by the plunge in U.S. rival Blue Apron's APRN.N shares.
"We are keeping all options open," CEO Dominik Richter was quoted as saying by the monthly magazine on Thursday when asked about the possibility of a September flotation.
Blue Apron APRN.N shares have lost almost half their value since the June initial public offering amid worries about costs and competition from e-commerce giant Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN). Blue Apron IPO has only limited relevance for us. We play in a different league," Richter said, citing an established business in nine countries on three continents, generating faster growth and fewer losses than Blue Apron in the first half of this year.
He added that longer term valuation was more important to him than what investors were willing to pay for shares in the company, which is controlled by Rocket Internet RKET.DE , in the short term.
"That also goes for the price in a possible IPO. It's much more important to us what we are worth in three or five years," the 30-year old CEO was quoted as saying.
Sources told Reuters in May that HelloFresh was preparing for a stock market flotation as early as autumn. narrowed losses in the second quarter as faster revenue growth offset heavy spending on marketing to attract new customers. which delivers meal ingredients and recipes, was valued at valued at 2 billion euros ($2.2 billion) in a funding round in December. ($1 = 0.8933 euros)