PETALING JAYA: Evergreen Max Cash Capital Bhd (EMCC) has made a stellar debut on Bursa Malaysia’s ACE Market today, with its shares opening at 32 sen, a 33.33% premium over its initial public offering (IPO) price of 24 sen.
As of 11.28am, the pawnbroking service provider, which began with an initial trading volume of 37.7 million shares, continued to maintain its position as the most actively traded stock, with a total of 249 million shares changing hands.
According to the group’s executive director and managing director, Low Kok Chuan, becoming a publicly listed group marks a new beginning and boosts EMCC’s brand visibility among potential and new customers.
“Moving forward, we are confident that the pawnbroking industry will continue to grow as pawnbroking services remain a preferred choice for short-term financing, especially amongst the unbanked and underbanked population,” said Low.
“With the IPO proceeds in place, we are well-positioned to execute our expansion plan. This includes increasing the cash capital of our existing ‘Pajaking’ pawnshops by RM30 million as well as to increase the number of ‘Pajaking’ pawnshops that we have,” he said.
The group raised a total of RM64.2 million in funds from its IPO.
Of the amount, EMCC earmarked RM20 million (31.1%) for the expansion of pawnshops and RM30 million (46.7%) as cash capital for its pawnbroking business.
Nonetheless, RM4 million (6.2%) was allocated for the repayment of bank borrowings and RM5.6 million (8.8%) for working capital.
For the first half ended June 30, 2023 (H1 FY2023), the group posted a net profit of RM7.21 million, marking a 23% growth from RM5.87 million in H1 FY2022.
Furthermore, it experienced a substantial 72% year-on-year (y-o-y) increase in revenue, reaching RM52.03 million from RM30.26 million previously.
The improvement in financial performance was attributed to an uptick in pawn loans disbursed and an increased sales volume of unredeemed pledged gold items from the pawnbroking business.
The group also saw elevated sales of pre-owned gold products sourced from third-party pawnshops.
Out of the 16 IPOs conducted in H1 2023, industrial products provider DS Sigma Holdings Bhd was the most significant under-performer, with its shares dropping 29% to 30 sen as of June 30 compared to the IPO price of 55 sen per share.
Mercury Securities Sdn Bhd is the principal adviser, sponsor, underwriter and placement agent for EMCC’s IPO exercise.