KUALA LUMPUR: Astramina Group Bhd has emerged as a Bursa Malaysia-listed halal seasoning product manufacturer following its Leading Entrepreneur Accelerator Platform or Leap market debut.
Astramina managing director Datuk Foo Chi Ching said that the purpose of the listing is for visibility and to ensure higher corporate governance.
With its halal certification from Jakim, Astramina is also eyeing the Middle Eastern markets which have a combined market potential of US$2 trillion.
Foo said Astramina planned to migrate to the Ace Market over the next three to five years.
Astramina opened at 25 sen, a two sen premium over its reference price of 23 sen, with a volume of 30,000 shares.
It is an investment holding company while subsidiaries are Astramina Sdn Bhd (ASB) and Seasonings Specialties Sdn Bhd (SSSB).
ASB and SSSB are principally involved in manufacturing and selling of food ingredients and trading of food ingredients respectively.
SSSB offers a wide range of seasoning products for various indfustries such as snacks, processed meats, processed seafoods and others, while ASB offers a variety of food ingredients such as flavours, spice oleoresins and natural food colouring among others.
SSSB sells products to a diversified range of foreign markets while ASB???s customers are Malaysia based.
Astramina exports its seasonings to Sri Lanka, Singapore, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Indonesia, China and South Korea.
The company has three factories in Kepong, Kuala Lumpur.
It also recently entered into a conditional sale and purchase agreement with Negri Sembilan to purchase the Sendayan TechValley Land for the purpose of constructing a new factory and office.
???We expect to commence the construction in the next one to three years from the listing. The completion of the factory will see a doubling of our capacity from the 1,000 tonnes per annum, ??? said Foo.
Astramina???s revenue grew from RM14.97 mil for its year ended Feb 28,2018 (FY2018) to RM16.23 mil in FY2019, recording a growth rate of 8.44%.
Its net profit grew 4.9% from RM3.81mil in FY18 to RM4mil in FY19.The first half of Aug 31,2019 has seen Astramina recording a net profit of RM2.23mil.
Astramina???s listing consisted of 272.16 million shares at 23 sen, at an issued share capital of RM30.86mil.
At this price, the stock will have a market capitalisation of RM62.6mil.
At 23 sen, the stock an implied price earnings ratio of 15.65 times based on its 2019 figures.
There were no new funds raised for this listing, as this was a listing by way of introduction.
Over the years, the seasonings use for industrial purpose in Malaysia has grew from RM393mil in 2010 to RM654mil in 2018 and recorded a positive compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) growth of 6.58%.
The industrial seasonings industry in Malaysia is expected to grow from RM654mil in 2018 to RM755mil in 2021 with a CAGR of 4.90%.
Meanwhile, food seasoning product in the Middle East and Africa countries are heavily depends on import from reliable halal certified suppliers.
With the dominance of the Muslim population in the Middle East region, Astramina???s halal certified products will offer great potential, as halal-certified seasoning ingredients are mandatory items in the food & beverage sector in most of the countries in Middle East region.