No Signboard opens higher on trading debut

CATALIST-LISTED No Signboard Holdings opened at 31 Singapore cents on its trading debut, up from its initial public offering (IPO) price of 28 cents.

Shares in the family-owned seafood restaurant chain clawed its way up to a high of 33 cents in early trading on Thursday morning, with some 38.3 million shares changing hands by 9.25am.

Sam Lim, chief executive officer of No Signboard Holdings, said: "We are proud to have grown from our modest beginnings as a seafood hawker stall to one of the leading F&B (food and beverage) players in Singapore. Going forward, we will continue to leverage on our strong brand and industry network to grow new and complementary F&B businesses."

Its IPO, which closed on Tuesday, was 23.6 times subscribed. Excluding shares that were offered to cornerstone investors, the IPO size totalled 65.7 million shares. The public was offered 2.5 million shares and the rest were placement shares.

No Signboard owns three restaurants at the Esplanade, VivoCity and The Central @ Clarke Quay, as well as one franchisee at Mattar Road.

It raised net proceeds of S$18.7 million through the IPO, of which S$10 million will be used to build a new brewery in Indonesia and grow the in-house beer brand Draft Denmark. No Signboard will also use S$5 million to launch a new Chinese casual dining chain with two restaurants planned in the second half of next year.

Mohamed Nasser Ismail, head of equity capital market (SME) and head of capital market development at the Singapore Exchange (SGX), added: "Its listing will not only strengthen SGX's consumer cluster, but also offer investors an opportunity to participate in the continued growth of Singapore's F&B industry, as the company ventures further into complementary beer and ready meal businesses as well as establish a new chain of casual dining restaurants."

No Signboard's listing brings the total number of consumer companies listed on the SGX to 150, with a combined market capitalisation of more than S$150 billion. The total number of companies listed on Catalist rises to 198, with a combined market capitalisation of over S$12 billion.