Northern Solar managing director Lew Shoong Kai.
KUALA LUMPUR: Fresh from its listing yesterday, Northern Solar Holdings Bhd is looking at a 20% increase in revenue growth for the financial year ending March 31, 2025 (FY25), compared with the turnover of RM78mil a year ago.
Group managing director Lew Shoong Kai said the bullish target was supported by an unbilled order book of RM83.2mil as at Nov 19, 2024 and it should keep the group busy for the next 12 months.
“It will also be recognised as revenue in FY25 and FY26, based on the expected progress of each project,” he told a press conference after Northern Solar’s listing here yesterday.
The group’s share price surged 42.85% over its initial public offering (IPO) price on its first day of trading to open at 90 sen, as investors welcomed the prospects of the solar renewable energy firm.
However, gains from early in the day were pared down and the counter ended trading at 79 sen at the closing bell, which is still a 16-sen premium, or a 25.4% increase, over its IPO price.
It emerged as the top gainer and most actively traded stock with 133.61 million shares changing hands.
Northern Solar had completed 1,165 engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning (EPCC) solar photovoltaic (PV) system projects under the Net Energy Metering and self-consumption programmes as of Nov 19, 2024.
As of last November, the company had seen its tender book rise to RM1.8bil, as it participated in more private and public project tenders throughout Malaysia, resulting in a significant jump from RM272.5mil as of May 2024.
It has 387 tenders for the EPCC of solar PV system projects currently.
Besides planning to expand across Malaysia, establishing offices in Johor and Penang while exploring opportunities in other states, Lew said Northern Solar is also looking to expand the company’s footprint in South-East Asia.
“There are some potential countries that we are looking to expand into but we will discuss this with the board,” he said.
Separately, he sees no direct impact from the shutdowns and downsizing of Chinese-owned solar panel manufacturers in Malaysia following the US tariff hikes.
“Chinese solar panel manufacturers set up plants here primarily for export to the United States, while we source our panels directly from China,” he said.
