SINGAPORE - Vividthree Holdings (VVH) made its debut on the Singapore Exchange's (SGX) Catalist board on Tuesday morning (Sept 25), opening at at $0.225 apiece, 10.1 per cent lower than its IPO (initial public offering) price of $0.25.
Shares in Vividthree, whose work has been used in the Ah Boys to Men movie franchise, hit a high of $0.25 in the early morning and were trading at $0.24 as at 10.04am on Tuesday. Some 1.6 million shares exchanged hands.
The virtual reality, visual effects and computer-generated imagery studio registered its IPO prospectus on Sept 17 to raise gross proceeds of $12.95 million through a placement, comprising 51.8 million shares at $0.25 apiece.
VVH was 49.15 per cent owned by mainboard-listed mm2 Asia, with VVH's managing director, Charles Yeo having a 15.59 per cent stake, and VVH's visual effects director, Jay Hong owning 15.58 per cent. Following the placement, mm2 Asia will be the sole controlling shareholder with about 41.53 per cent. Mr Yeo and Mr Hong will hold 13.17 per cent each.
The placement will also give VVH about 334 million shares and a market cap of $83.5 million.
VVH's net profit for fiscal 2018, at $2.7 million, means a pre-placement earnings per share of $0.96, which will fall to $0.81 after the placement. It plans to use $7.83 million of the proceeds for general working capital purposes, and $3.35 million for intellectual property as well as for acquisitions and joint ventures. The remaining will go towards listing expenses.
In a press statement on Tuesday, Mr Yeo noted that VVH is poised for "substantial growth" in the years ahead, and believes in the "natural expansion of the digital content market".
Added Mr Yeo: "We think the combination of our more established business in post-production, and early stage business in content-production, creates an attractive combination of cash flow generation, stronger margins, and meaningful growth potential."
Separately, SGX's head of equity capital market (SME) and head of capital market development, Mohamed Nasser Ismail said VVH is a tech company that is "tapping on the proliferation of innovative technology and the growth of VR and technology-driven immersive entertainment".
"Global tech giants have been investing in augmented and VR, which is touted as the next computing platform. Vividthree is in an exciting space and we look forward to supporting them as they explore new business opportunities locally and internationally."
SGX added that VVH's listing will strengthen the local bourse's technology cluster, which will now have a total of more than 70 companies, with combined market cap of more than $70 billion.
