ROME (Reuters) – Italian lawmakers are pressing ahead with plans to cap the fee meal voucher issuers can charge to merchants at 5% of their face value, a parliamentary document released on Thursday showed, dragging down shares of French group Edenred.
The document, dated Oct. 23, followed a separate draft document saying the proposal promoted by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party had been declared inadmissible by two parliamentary committees.
The proposal was put forward as an amendment to a bill aimed at boosting competition.
Fabio Pietrella, the Brothers of Italy party lawmaker in charge of shepherding the competition bill through parliament, confirmed that the amendment was still under discussion.
Shares in vouchers and benefit cards provider Edenred fell more than 10% in Thursday mid-morning trade.
Edenred said in a statement the proposed cap would run counter to the principle of freedom to set prices set out in Italian and European commercial law, adding it was ready to challenge the measure at the Italian administrative court.
Should the amendment be adopted as it stands, it said, the impact on the group’s EBITDA would be around 60 million euros ($64.8 million) in 2025 and 120 million euros on an annual basis.
Meal vouchers are commonly provided by employers as part of staff remuneration.
($1 = 0.9260 euros)
(Reporting by Giuseppe Fonte, editing by Alvise Armellini)
