KUCHING: Bore piling and bridge specialist construction company Ikhmas Jaya Group Bhd (Ikhmas Jaya) was the most active stock yesterday after making its debut on the main market of Bursa Malaysia at 68 sen – a premium of 11 sen or 19.29 per cent from its issue price of 57 sen.
At closing, more than 170.5 million shares traded hands. It closed at 82 sen per share, a rise of 25 sen or 43.86 per cent higher than its debut price.
Group managing director Datuk Ang Cheng Siong yesterday said being listed on Bursa Malaysia provided the group with a strong platform to enhance its business and build a stronger corporate identity.
“Today is the beginning of a new corporate journey for us and a step forward towards our next phase of growth,” he said in a statement.
The group is expected to continue its growth momentum and had projected a double-digit growth for the 2015 financial year on the back of its strong orderbook which currently stands at RM346 million.
Ang said the group would also continue to bid for more construction work especially those within its line of expertise and would enter two more biddings by year-end.
The company has a fair chance of winning some of the bids in particular those related to the mass rapid transit project, leveraging on its specialisation in bore piling amid a shortage of players in this area.
He said there were about 100 bore pile contractors in the country, out of which only 10 are big players.
“The group’s track record, good in-house designing team and fleet of piling equipment will give the company its competitive advantage,” he said.
Meanwhile, Ang said the market demand for the company’s shares was strong as its public issue of 26 million shares was oversubscribed by 8.16 times.
The placement of 78 million shares was also fully taken up, he added.
The company raised RM71.82 million in proceeds from the listing exercise and 44.31 per cent of the proceeds will be utilised to purchase more construction equipment to enable the group to seek further opportunities, he said.