Firm start for Haily Group as it lists on ACE Market.
KUALA LUMPUR: Construction outfit Haily Group made a firm debut on the ACE Market, with its share price rising close to 20% to a high of 81.5 sen in intra-day trading compared with its initial public offering (IPO) of 68 sen.
The counter opened at 79 sen, an 11 sen premium or 16.8% higher from its IPO price. Haily Group closed its first trading day at 74 sen a share.
Haily independent non-executive chairman Mohd Jaffar Awang said the listing exercise would help the group to unlock its potential as the group markets its construction services and expands its customer base in Malaysia.
He added that the group would focus on its core competency in building construction in Johor while leveraging on its experience to extend its reach to the other districts.
“Our group will be able to leverage on our capabilities as a Grade G7 contractor which allows us to bid and carry out any size of building construction projects irrespective of the contract value,” Mohd Jaffar noted.
Haily has completed a total of 65 building construction projects with a total contract value of RM1.29bil since 2008.
Mohd Jaffar said Haily has ongoing projects that can sustain the group until 2023.
“Currently, Haily has 18 building construction projects as well as two civil engineering- related construction projects. The total secured contract value and unbilled contract value as at June 10, 2021 stood at RM460.04mil and RM249.58mil respectively,” he explained.
Moving forward, Mohd Jaffar said the group also has plans to expand into industrial building construction through economic developments in Johor.
He added that the group had completed six industrial building construction projects with a total of 68 units of factories in Johor Baru and Kulai.
Its priority would be to improve its overall operational capabilities besides expanding its foothold in other districts in Johor.
“We will also use part of the proceeds raised from our IPO exercise to purchase additional construction machinery and equipment mainly to facilitate better scheduling of our construction work when the projects require concurrent usage and in anticipation of future growth,” said Mohd Jaffar.
Haily had raised RM20.4mil for business expansion from the public issue of 30 million new shares at 68 sen each.
Of the 30 million shares, Haily was offering 8.92 million shares to the public, 10 million to its eligible directors, employees and persons who have contributed to the success of the group, and 11.08 million to selected investors by way of a private placement.
On its dividend policy, Mohd Jaffar pointed out that the group intends to distribute dividends of at least 30% of its annual profits attributable to its shareholders upon completion of the listing.
“However, it is not a legally binding obligation and guaranteed commitment to the shareholders,” he said.
Dividends declared and distributed by the group for the financial year ended Dec 31 (FY17), FY18, FY19 and FY20 were RM10.01mil, RM5.25mil, RM6mil and RM2.5mil respectively.For FY21, Haily also proposed an interim dividend of 1.68 sen a share.
“The entitlement date and payment date will be determined and announced by the board after the company’s listing on the ACE Market,” it said in a filing with Bursa Malaysia.
For the first quarter ended March 31, 2021, Haily posted a net profit of RM2.8mil on the back of RM43.3mil in revenue.
