Toronto/New York, - Shares of Canadian coffee and doughnut chain Tim Hortons Inc. rose about a third in their market debut Friday, the day after the company sold $671.7 million worth of shares in its initial public offering.
The shares were trading at $30.06, up $6.898 on the New York Stock Exchange around noon, after pricing at $23.162 (C$27). That 29.78 percent gain topped the average 2005 first-day advance of 11.5 percent for U.S. IPOs worth $50 million or more, according to data provider Dealogic.
The stock was up C$12.11, at C$35.27 on the Toronto Stock Exchange, where 60 percent of the 29 million shares were issued.
At the opening bell on the Toronto Stock Exchange, Tim Hortons' executives drank a toast with orange juice and champagne served in Tim Hortons coffee cups while a trailer parked in front of the bourse offered free coffee and the chain's trademark 'timbits', bite-sized doughnut holes.
"I am humbled by the attention our company and brand has received since the IPO announcement, especially the last three weeks during the road show," chief executive Paul House said.
The Hortons chain is the second fast-food IPO spin-off of the year. McDonald's Corp. in January sold a stake in the Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. .
Chipotle shares doubled in value from their $22 IPO price in their first day of trading and were trading at $53.65 on the NYSE on Friday.
The 2,885-restaurant Tim Hortons chain is named after its founder, a former National Hockey League star. It describes itself as the largest restaurant chain in Canada and is considered a national icon, with locations in almost all Canadian towns.
It is seeking to expand in the United States, with plans to increase its U.S. presence from a current 288 stores to about 500 by the end of 2008.
Analysts said a key test for the company will be whether it can achieve that goal.
"I'm just a little bit concerned about, going forward, whether they can achieve a growth record that is going to have more of a thrust in the U.S. markets," said David Menlow, president of IPOFinancial.com, an independent research firm based in Millburn, New Jersey.
House said there is tremendous potential for growth in the the United States.
"We are not a company that is saying: 'We're going to the U.S.', we're a company that has been in the U.S.," he said. "It's going to be a slow growth story, we're going to do it the way we did it in Canada."
The shares in the IPO represent a 15 percent stake in the company, which will remain majority-owned by U.S. fast food company Wendy's International Inc. .
Wendy's, which bought Tim Hortons in 1995, said it plans to spin off the rest of the chain by Dec. 31.
"Supply is going to be an issue that will be an overhang for the stock," Menlow said.
Tim Hortons reported net income of C$191.1 million on C$1.48 billion in total revenues in fiscal 2005, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Cynthia Devine, Tim Hortons executive vice president and chief financial officer, said the company plans to pay a dividend of 20 percent of net income starting in the third quarter of 2006.
Goldman Sachs & Co. and RBC Capital Markets were the lead underwriters.