More good news for UIHIA, another foreign IPO soars tonight:
Dow Jones Newswires
Singapore's GES Intl Debuts At S$0.30 Vs
S$0.25 IPO Price
Dow Jones Newswires
SINGAPORE -- Propped up by speculative trading, shares of electronic
products distributor and maker GES International of Singapore have risen
above their initial public offer price of S$0.25 (US$1.1.6877).
The stock, trading at S$0.28 at 0136 GMT (8:36 p.m. EST Tuesday),
was down from its earlier high of S$0.33, as it succumbed to profit-taking,
dealers said.
Some 18.4 million shares have changed hands, making GES the top
volume stock.
Many analysts had advised investors to subscribe for GES' shares, given
its low absolute price, and then sell to lock in profits.
The group's focused approach on high-value added services, such as
original design and contract manufacturing, as well as plans to explore joint
venture and acquisition opportunities in China are positive, said UOB
Investment Research in a report.
But, the research arm of local broking house UOB Securities warned that
GES needs to enhance existing products and introduce new products to
remain competitive, given rapidly changing technology.
UOB Investment Research also said that GES' manufacturing pretax
margins of between 2% and 2.2% are lower than those of contract
manufacturers JIT Holdings Ltd. at 4.8%, NatSteel Electronics Ltd.
(P.NSE) at 3.5% and Venture Manufacturing Ltd. (P.VMF) at 8.2%.
GES is also dependent on Datamini products which account for 42% of
pretax profit in the fiscal year ended June 30, 1998.
GES made an initial public offer of 100 million shares at S$0.25 each. Its
placement tranche of 75 million shares was fully taken up and its public
offer was 17 times subscribed.
The issue was managed and underwritten by French investment bank
Banque Nationale de Paris' unit, BNP Prime Peregrine.
-By Netty Ismail; 65-421-4804; ismail.netty@cor.dowjones.com |
