EDF Exits France's CAC-40 Index Dec. 21

PARIS—French state-controlled utility Electricité de France SA will exit France's CAC-40 blue-chip stock index later this month, stock market operator Euronext said Monday after its quarterly review meeting.

French real-estate group Klé pierre SA will take EDF's slot in the Paris stock market benchmark index, Euronext said. The change will be effective on Dec. 21.

Every quarter, a special panel sets which 40 shares will be included in the benchmark index as well as the weight each of the shares have on the index.

Even though EDF, the country's former electricity monopoly, is one of the largest companies in the country, with €73 billion ($79 billion) in annual revenue and with a market capitalization of €25 billion, EDF trades thinly on the stock market, as the French government controls about 85% of its shares.

In a statement, EDF blamed the decision to exclude it from the CAC-40 to the small float and insisted it remains "an asset" for the French economy and a "European reference utility".

Over the past year, shares of EDF have lost about 45% as investors are weary of the company's outlook as a result of the intensification of competition on the French market, where rival utilities lure an increasing number of customers away from the former monopoly. Additionally, the uncertainty about the extension of its 58 nuclear reactors and the risks associated to the acquisition of the nuclear reactor manufacturing unit of Areva contributed to weigh the share price down.

Write to Inti Landauro at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 07, 2015 15:25 ET (20:25 GMT)

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