QES to offer 151.66 million new shares in IPO

PETALING JAYA: QES Group Bhd is en route to an initial public offering (IPO) on the ACE Market of Bursa Malaysia Securities Bhd with an issue of 151.66 million new shares and offer for sale of 75.83 million existing shares.
QES is principally involved in the distribution of inspection, test and measurement equipment, materials and engineering solutions. It also manufactures optical inspection equipment, automated handling equipment as well as advanced wafer measurement system.
Their customers belong to the electrical & electronics, automotive and semiconductor industries.
Its principal markets cover the Asean region. Malaysia contributed 47.7% of its RM127.28 million revenue for the financial year ended Dec 31, 2016, followed by its largest foreign contributor, Vietnam which accounted for 14.2%, while Singapore and the Philippines contributed 11.1% and 10.1% respectively. The group has been around since 1991.
Proceeds from the IPO will be used for development of three key products – general working capital requirements, repayment of bank borrowings, and capital expenditure & estimated listing expenses.
“We plan to utilise up to RM4.3 million from the proceeds to develop three key products, namely the fully automated vision inspection system, automatic wafer packing system and automatic wafer ID under our manufacturing division. These products are advanced equipment aimed at reducing cost and improving product yield in their respective test and measurement processes through higher precision, integrated processes and automation. They are targeted at customers from the semiconductor industry,” QES said in its prospectus exposure.
It plans to expand its distribution business by expanding its recurring income segment and diversifying into new market segments for its product line-up.
“In order to better capitalise on our large customer base, we will implement a customer relationship management software to better monitor our customers’ equipment status and initiate service calls to grow our recurring revenue from repair and maintenance services and supply of spare parts.
“We are seeking new market segments for our products to penetrate into in the near future, particularly the higher education institutions, petrochemical and pharmaceutical industries,” said QES.