KUALA LUMPUR: Yew Lee Pacific Group Bhd made its debut on the ACE Market of Bursa Malaysia at 28.5 sen a share, which represented a slight premium over its public offering price of 28 sen a share.

       At 10.34am, the stock was the most heavily traded on Bursa Malaysia at 29 sen a share, one sen or 3.57% higher than its reference price, with 153.88 million shares exchanging hands.

       “We see this listing as an opportunity to realise our future plans and strategies, including expansion and upgrading of our production facilities as well as developing a range of customisable industrial brushes catering to a diverse customer base," said Yew Lee chairman Mahdzir Othman in a statement.

       The company had earlier announced it was raising RM37.27mil from the IPO, of which RM10.9mil would go towards additional machinery and equipment, RM7.3mil for the construction of a new warehouse facility and office building in Pusing, Perak, RM1.8mil for the renovation of a new office in Klang, Selangor, RM8.9mil for the repayment of bank borrowings and the remainder towards working capital and listing expenses.

       Mahdzir noted that the company is allocating RM3.6mil for advance purchases of materials to support an increase in manufacturing activities.

       "This will improve our inventory and availability levels and shorten overall lead time for delivery. The purchase of additional machinery and equipment is also to automate production processes and reduce labour costs," he added.

       Yew Lee currently has an estimated market share of 12.4% of the total size of the industrial brush industry in Malaysia of RM254.5mil in 2021, based on the company’s revenue from the manufacturing of industrial brushes segment of RM31.6mil during the financial year ended Dec 31, 2021.

       The company plans to automate more of its operations to reduce dependency on labour and intends to expand market share in the trading of machinery parts in the central region of Peninsular Malaysia as well as have a bigger presence in Indonesia and Thailand through Yew Lee Indonesia and Yew Lee Thailand, both of which were established in 2019.

       The company recently declared a first interim dividend of 0.3 sen per ordinary share in respect of the financial year ending Dec 31, 2022, to be paid on July 12, 2022.