Thursday 28 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 16): Aurelius Technologies Bhd (ATech), which debuted on the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia on Thursday (Dec 16), rose to a high of RM1.83 — a 47 sen or 34.56% premium over its initial public offering (IPO) of RM1.36.

Opening at RM1.41, the counter was trading at RM1.80 at 10.36am, still up 44 sen or 32.35%.

The counter, which was the second most actively traded stock at the time of writing, saw 123.25 million shares traded.

ATech executive director and chief executive officer Lee Chong Yeow said after the listing ceremony the group will continue to grow its semiconductor multicomponent modules as it is in the Internet of Things (IoT) space and it is a fast-growing industry.

“Having said that, we are also looking into other areas that include vertical integration, even might be, you know, to a certain extent some downstream expansion,” he said.

Meanwhile, he noted that the electrical and electronic (E&E) products industry as a whole is still one of the key economies of Malaysia, and he sees the sector continuing to grow.

“We see very strong demand worldwide for the E&E industry. With this IPO, we are in a better position to grow our business,” he said, adding that the Covid-19 pandemic has spurred the usage of electronics.

According to Lee, ATech currently relies on five customers from multinational companies.

He also noted the company’s current capacity is operating at close to 95%.

“With our factory expansion plan to be completed by year end, that will give us an additional 70% for the production floor,” he said, adding that the group plans to roll out its expansion program when the factory is ready.

While electronics manufacturing services (EMS) players in Malaysia have recently faced allegations over the forced labour issues, Lee said the issue is not the company’s concern as 100% of its labour are locals.

He also said environmental, social and governance (ESG) is an important segment that the group will continue to comply with.

Meanwhile, ATech chairman Datin Normaliza Kairon said in a statement that the company will continue creating value through focusing on ESG matters.

“Besides technology adoption, we also want to create value through focusing on ESG by having sustainable practices. We have since 2004 have had our environmental management system ISO-certified and we endeavour to become the top electronics manufacturing services provider with green credentials,” she said.

She also believes this listing will give the group the visibility that it needs to leverage the expansion of the business, to retain and attract more customers from across Asia Pacific, the Americas and Europe.

“We see this listing also giving us the opportunity to realise our future plans and strategies, including expansion and upgrading of our production facilities,” she said.

ATech is raising RM104.73 million from the IPO exercise. From the proceeds, RM40 million would be used for the purchase of new machinery and equipment, RM29.52 million for the repayment of borrowings, RM28.13 million for working capital and RM7.09 million for listing expenses.

ATech offers a comprehensive range of EMS to multinational corporations across 11 countries covering Asia Pacific, Americas and Europe. These services include engineering support services, prototyping, board assembly, mechanical assembly, testing and labelling for communications and IoT, electronic devices and semiconductor component products used by the transportation, power management, telecommunications and IoT industries.

For the financial year ended Jan 31, 2021, communications and IoT products contributed 89.5% to the company’s revenue, with electronic devices contributing 9.4% and semiconductor components contributing less than 1%. The top three countries by revenue contribution for FY19 to FY21 were the United States, Malaysia and Singapore, which collectively accounted for 93.6%, 92.7%, and 89.3% of revenue.

Maybank Investment Bank Bhd is the principal adviser, sole bookrunner and sole underwriter.

Edited ByJoyce Goh
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