99 Speedmart opens at 12pct premium on first day of listing

KUALA LUMPUR: 99 Speedmart Retail Holdings Bhd, Malaysia's biggest initial public offering (IPO) in seven years, opened at RM1.85, a 12 per cent premium to its IPO price of RM1.65 a share, on its first day of listing on the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia.

As at 9.06am, 1.32 million shares changed hands.

99 Speed Mart listed with a market capitalisation of RM13.9 billion.

This is based on the final retail price of RM1.65 and its enlarged share capital of 8.4 billion shares.

Hong Leong Investment Bank initiated coverage on 99 Speedmart with a BUY call and target price of RM1.98 based on 30 times price to earnings (PE) ratio on FY25 earnings.

It said, while this PE implies a ~40 per cent premium to 99 Speedmart's peers, it believes it is warranted on the back of its market leader position coupled with aggressive store expansion.