Dermatology, aesthetics medical services firm Niks Professional slides on Catalist debut
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The firm was set up 25 years ago by Mr Cheng Shoong Tat and his wife, Dr Ong Fung Chin.
PHOTO: LIANHE ZAOBAO
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SINGAPORE – Niks Professional fell on its debut on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) Catalist board
The dermatology and aesthetic medical services company’s offering of 21.8 million new shares – 20.8 million placement shares and one million for the public – was 1.8 times subscribed.
The company raised net proceeds of $3.3 million to open new clinics in Singapore and expand its medical skincare products distribution business in China.
Potential acquisitions, joint ventures and alliances are also on the cards.
Niks Professional is one of three medical services companies specialising in dermatology and aesthetics listed on the SGX. The other two are A.M Aesthetics and Beverly JCG.
The company was set up 25 years ago and is led by chairman and chief executive Cheng Shoong Tat and his wife, Dr Ong Fung Chin, who is president and chief medical officer.
Following the IPO, the pair now hold 40.1 per cent each in the company, while the public holds 16.8 per cent.
The remaining shares are held by four doctors in Niks Professional’s team of doctors.
The company provides laser and intense pulsed light procedures and treatment for various skin conditions such as acne at its three clinics in Tampines, Orchard and Jurong East.
It also operates three retail shops and an online store offering Niks skincare products.
In a recent interview with The Straits Times, Mr Cheng said the company will be opening a new clinic in the north to cater to its significant number of customers from Johor who make day trips into Singapore for treatment.
The company also sells skincare products to hospitals, clinics, pharmacies, shops, doctors and consumers in China, mainly through 11 regional agents, and has a wholly owned subsidiary, Niks Professional (Shanghai).
Following the listing, Mr Cheng said the firm wants to grow its sales and client base in China and hire more people there.
“Now that we are going for more significant expansions through alliances and mergers both in Singapore and China, we’ve found that being a small and unlisted company has its challenges,” he said.
The bulk of the company’s sales in China is business-to-business – the products are sold to the 11 regional agents, who then sell to doctors and other users.
Niks Professional has 52 employees, including four in China.
It had a net profit of $2.8 million in the 2022 financial year, down from $3.3 million a year earlier.
Mr Cheng said that his firm has had to adapt to the changing market as competition for talent stiffened and social media marketing became mainstream.
“Marketing our clinics and services through word-of-mouth doesn’t work as well as in the past. We’ve jumped onto the social media bandwagon, but as we don’t have a full-time marketing team yet, we plan to slowly ease into video marketing, such as on platforms like TikTok,” he said.
It is also now harder to hire suitable medical doctors for the company, Mr Cheng shared.
He added that he hopes being Catalist-listed and having employee stock options will help Niks Professional draw and retain more talented doctors to help grow the business.
Niks Professional closed at 20 cents on Friday.
