KUALA LUMPUR: Glostrext Bhd made a strong debut on the ACE Market of Bursa Malaysia today, opening at 65 sen for a 46 sen or 242% premium from its initial public offering (IPO) price of 19 sen.
At the opening bell, the geotechnical instrumentation and testing service provider saw 11.84 million shares traded.
The stock closed at 25.5 sen, 6.5 sen or 34.2% above the IPO price, on 308.191 million shares traded.
Glostrext managing director Dr Lee Sieng Kai said the company will use the listing as a springboard to expand its real-time structural and ground instrumentation and monitoring business into Singapore and will leverage its existing presence in the republic to expand its service offerings there.
“We plan to expand our business in Singapore over the next three years. We also see opportunities in both markets – Malaysia and Singapore, where automation is becoming more prevalent. The demand for live monitoring data is significant,” he told a press conference after the IPO listing ceremony at Bursa Malaysia here.
He said the Singapore government’s allocation for the transport subsector grew from S$5.33 billion (RM18.2 billion) in 2020 to a high of S$9.42 billion in 2023, out of which more than 40% is allocated for expansion of rail network and related projects.
“This serves as a strong base for continued demand for geotechnical instrumentation and testing services, moving forward.
“Besides, under Singapore’s Building Control Regulations, pile load testing is mandatory and geotechnical monitoring is required for all construction of buildings and infrastructure. We believe that we will be well positioned to benefit from these requirements to secure sales and further grow our business in the republic,” he added.
Glostrext raised RM20.1 million from its IPO exercise, out of which RM11.7 million or 58.2% will be allocated to fund its business expansion plan in Singapore and for working capital.
As at June 30, 2023, the company primarily offers pile instrumentation and static load test services to customers in Singapore and Malaysia. Its structural and ground instrumentation and monitoring services are mainly provided to customers in Malaysia.
Singapore remains the company’s largest revenue contributor for geotechnical instrumentation service offerings contributing RM4.60 million, followed by Malaysia at RM1.81 million.
Glostrext is the 15th listing on the ACE Market and the 23rd company to be listed on Bursa Malaysia this year. – Bernama