KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 6): DS Sigma Holdings Bhd made a strong debut on the ACE Market of Bursa Malaysia on Friday (Jan 6) with an opening price of 81 sen, a 47% premium to its initial public offering (IPO) price of 55 sen, with 12.46 million shares done.

"We have evolved from being [a] product centric supplier supplying materials or goods to a packaging supply chain solutionist and we are still evolving," the group's managing director Lucille Teoh Soo Lien said at DS Sigma's listing ceremony on Friday.

"We are confident that this listing exercise will enhance DS Sigma's profile which will help us to accelerate our growth as well as grow our market share as we penetrate new markets while continuing to foster continuous growth of our existing customer base."

When asked on the group's market outlook for the year, Teoh stated that the group is confident despite growing talks of global recessions.

"Packaging industry is the end of line of manufacturing, but overall manufacturing has been facing headwinds."

"It's news every day, they are talking about global recession, but I am optimistic because... we only secure 2.5% of the Malaysian market."

"We grow on that 2.5% market share from the entirety of the Malaysian market in terms of paper packaging. We have more room to grow."

On Friday, Rakuten Trade has rated the group a “buy” at 55 sen with a target price (TP) of 80 sen.

"We expect DS Sigma to register net earnings of RM22.9 million and RM27.3 million for FY6/23 and FY6/24 respectively."

“Buy with a TP of 80 sen based on 14 times PER (average PER of its regional peers at similar capacity and market cap) over FY24 EPS."

DS Sigma successfully raised approximately RM50.15 million from the IPO via the issuance of 91.18 million new ordinary shares.  

DS Sigma will utilise RM17.2 million of the proceeds raised to expand its operational facilities and RM16 million for the purchase of new machinery and equipment.  

Another RM1.14 million will be channelled towards the establishment of a packaging design and innovation centre, RM6 million for the repayment of bank borrowings and RM5.41 million for working capital. The remaining will be allocated for listing related expenses.

Public Investment Bank is DS Sigma's principal adviser, sponsor, and sole underwriter for the group's IPO.