Wentel debuted flat at 26 sen on its listing on the ACE Market.
KUALA LUMPUR: Wentel Engineering Holdings Bhd
aims to mitigate one of its biggest headwinds – retaining talent – by providing accommodation for both its local employees and foreign workers with two blocks of hostels.
The hostels, which have begun construction, will be part of its new manufacturing plant in Johor and is expected to be completed by the second half of 2025.
Group chief executive officer Chuah Chong Syn said worker shortage was one of the biggest hurdles the metal fabricator faces.
“Retaining talent has been one of our main challenges and to overcome it, this hostels will cater to more than 300 workers especially for those who work outside of Johor Baru,” he said at the group’s listing ceremony on the ACE Market of Bursa Malaysia yesterday.
According to Chuah, the group has also been working with universities to provide internship programmes for graduates.
“We recently signed a memorandum of understanding with Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka.
“We also have ongoing collaborations with Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia and students from Majlis Amanah Rakyat,” he said.
Chuah said that for now, the manpower shortage has not affected it badly, adding that the group will ensure it does not become a larger problem in the future.
“We encourage university students to participate in this programme. Many started off as interns and later become employed as engineers,” he said.
Meanwhile, Wentel debuted flat at 26 sen upon its listing yesterday with a volume of 19.7 million shares being traded when it opened.
At 5pm, the company closed 7.69% up at 28 sen with 250.8 million shares traded.
It was also the most actively traded stock of the day..
Chuah said the group raised RM71.03mil from its initial public offering.
“Of the proceeds, RM40mil has been allocated to part-finance the construction of two blocks of single-storey factory (with double-storey office) and the two blocks of worker hostels.
“Another RM25mil will be used to purchase new equipment and machinery for this plant while RM6mil will go towards listing expenses,” he said.
The new plant, which will be utilised for the fabrication of semi-finished metal products, parts and assembly operations, will begin its construction soon and is expected to commence operations in the second half of 2025.
“We will continue focusing on our two markets, Malaysia and Singapore. Right now, Malaysia contributes more than 60% to our revenue while the rest comes from Singapore.
“We also have a small sales segment in the United States, whereby we are involved in research and development, so we send prototypes over there,” he said.
Chuah said the groups’ outlook for 2024 was positive, as it expects its securities segment to continue improving while the semiconductor segment is expected to pick up in the second half of this year.
“We are upbeat about this year. We will focus on the existing customers as the utilisation rate of our existing plant is at 60%.
