KUALA LUMPUR (July 21): Haily Group Bhd’s share price rose about 20% past 80 sen in Bursa Malaysia morning trade today from the builder’s initial public offering (IPO) price of 68 sen on its ACE Market debut.

On market close, Haily shares settled at 74 sen after trading between 72.5 sen and 81.5 sen apiece.

The closing price gives Haily a market capitalisation of about RM131.96 million, based on the company’s expanded number of issued shares of 178.32 million.

Its IPO involved a public issue of 30 million new shares and an offer for sale of 18 million existing shares in the company at 68 sen each. Haily raised RM20.4 million for business expansion from the public issue of 30 million new shares.
 

In a statement in conjunction with its listing today, Haily's independent non-executive chairman Mohd Jaffar Awang (Ismail) said the listing marks an important milestone for Haily. "I believe the listing exercise will help to unlock the potential of the group by enhancing our reputation as we market our construction services and expand our customer base in Malaysia,” Mohd Jaffar said.

He said the group plans to continue focusing on its core competency in the construction of residential and non-residential buildings in Johor while leveraging its experience to extend its reach to other districts. Haily has so far completed 65 construction projects, with a total contract value of RM1.29 billion since 2008.

“Our group will be able to leverage our capabilities as a Grade G7 contractor, which allows us to bid [for] and carry out any size of building construction projects irrespective of the contract value. We have ongoing projects that can sustain us at least 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 RM460.04 million and RM249.58 million respectively,” he said.

Haily also plans to expand into industrial building construction to address opportunities provided by economic developments in Johor. The group has completed six industrial building construction projects, with a total of 68 units of factories located in Johor Baru and Kulai, said Mohd Jaffar.

“We will 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,” he said.

Haily intends to distribute dividends of at least 30% of its annual profit attributable to its shareholders after its listing, though the company said it is not a legally-binding obligation or guaranteed commitment.

"Dividends declared and distributed by the group for the financial year ended Dec 31, 2017 (FY17), FY18, FY19 and FY20 were RM10.01 million, RM5.25 million, RM6 million and RM2.5 million respectively,” Haily said.

Last Friday, the company announced a net profit of RM2.8 million and revenue of RM43.3 million for the first quarter ended March 31, 2021 (1QFY21). It also proposed an interim dividend of 1.68 sen a share for FY21, to be paid at a date to be decided later.

TA Securities Holdings Bhd was the principal adviser, sponsor, underwriter and placement agent for the IPO.