A local firm headed for a public listing believes Singaporeans' growing love affair with eating out spells good news for its dishware washing services.

The firm, GS Holdings, has filed a preliminary offer document ahead of its proposed listing on the Singapore Exchange's Catalist board.

GS said the growing F&B services industry here has meant a significant rise in demand for centralised dishware washing services. "A strong eating-out culture in Singapore, in line with rising living standards and income, leads to increased spending on F&B services," it said in a statement yesterday.

The company is seeking to fully automate its dishware washing process. It will move to a larger facility at 8, Loyang Way 4, which will start operations by March next year. The new facility will raise capacity to meet an expanding customer base while cutting costs through greater economies of scale.

The firm is also considering helping to manage its customers' waste disposal processes and kitchen workflow designs in the future.

UOB Kay Hian Private is the issue manager, sponsor and placement agent for GS' proposed listing.

GS customers include F&B tenants in shopping malls, foodcourts, coffee shops, restaurants, hawker centres and a public tertiary hospital. It said its services cut clients' reliance on manpower and increase the quality control of the cleanliness of crockery and utensils, allowing them to focus on their core businesses and reduce labour costs associated with cleaning.

GS said it is the only dishware washing specialist in Singapore to be accredited with the ISO 22000: 2005 food safety management and halal certifications.

In its preliminary prospectus, the firm said revenue for the first half of its 2015 financial year rose to $3.4 million from $1.2 million for the same period a year earlier.

But the cost of sales also rose sharply as a result of higher labour costs and a new facility.

As such, the firm posted a net loss of $103,000, reversing a net profit of $42,000 a year earlier.