KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 28 — ACE Market debutant ISF Group Bhd will continue to benefit from Malaysia’s data centre expansion by securing more projects this year.
Managing director Jeff Ai Boon Chen said the end-to-end industrial and commercial piping solutions company has a few ongoing data centre projects in the Klang Valley, Negeri Sembilan and Johor.
“Data centre is a quick turnaround project, which takes within 12 months to 18 months to be completed, and this does not actually reflect in our order book yet, as we are constantly tendering new projects.
“So we are (expecting) new projects for data centres coming in this year,” he told a press conference after the company’s listing ceremony here today.
Ai said that while data centre projects currently contribute 47.5 per cent of the group’s revenue, the remainder comprises residential, industrial, commercial, institutional, and healthcare projects.
“Basically, now we are capitalising on the rise of the data centres (projects to contribute to our revenues),” he said.
He said the company also plans to expand its workforce by bringing in more professionals and technical staff — beam modellers, engineers, project managers and quantity surveyors — into the team.
Ai said that for the time being, the company has 220 construction personnel, and most projects are being executed using in-house manpower.
“When there is a (tight) deadline, we will need to have a third party or a subcontractor to assist us, so it depends on the progress of the project.
“We are still reliant on our subcontractors in the current situation, as we are still developing our own team,” he said.
At the opening gong, ISF made its debut on the ACE Market of Bursa Malaysia at 50 sen, a premium of 17 sen over its initial public offering (IPO) price of 33 sen, with 50.14 million shares traded.
Of the RM61.15 million raised from the IPO, ISF has allocated RM11.35 million (18.56 per cent) to establish and expand operational facilities, and RM2.05 million (3.35 per cent) to develop existing business activities.
“Besides that, RM1.85 million (3.03 per cent) will be utilised for the expansion of its workforce, RM1.20 million (1.96 per cent) towards loan repayments, RM39.90 million (65.25 per cent) for working capital, and the remaining RM4.80 million (7.85 per cent) for the defrayment of listing expenses,” it said in a statement following its listing.
At 5pm, ISF closed the day trading at 48 sen, 2.0 sen lower from its opening price this morning of 50 sen, with 264.50 million shares traded.
The company also emerged as the most actively traded stock today. — Bernama
