Biolidics expects 'strong interest' in share placement

Singapore

CANCER diagnostics company Biolidics is expecting "strong interest" for its share placement that could raise some S$3.1 million to fuel its business expansion and pursue new growth opportunities.

"While the current market conditions are choppy, we are encouraged that Biolidics' share placement exercise has attracted strong interest and we look forward to accelerating our plans to enable greater market outreach and accessibility to our pipe-line of diagnostic solutions," Biolidics' non-executive and non-independent chairman Jeremy Yee told BT on Monday.

The Catalist-listed company will issue about 17.9 million new ordinary shares at 17.5 Singapore cents each. This issue price represents about a 7.3 per cent discount to the counter's volume weighted average price of 18.88 Singapore cents per share for all trades done last Friday.

Most of the 21 subscribers in the placement are private investors. The majority are also existing shareholders with stakes in Biolidics ranging from 0.02 per cent to 2.3 per cent, and the remaining nine will become new shareholders. After the placement, the subscribers will hold stakes ranging from 0.04 per cent to 2.91 per cent in Biolidics.

The only company among the placees is Kenyon, a Singapore-incorporated firm with businesses in building construction, engineering design and consulting activities. Kenyon will pay S$350,000 to increase its stake in Biolidics to 2.91 per cent, from its current 2.3 per cent shareholding.

The placement shares in total represent some 7.36 per cent of Biolidics' existing share capital, and will represent about 6.86 per cent of its enlarged share capital.

Biolidics said that each of the subscribers had previously expressed an interest to invest, or further invest in the company. Biolidics independently approached these subscribers.

The company also said it understands that the subscribers are participating in the placement "purely for financial investment purposes".

Of the S$3.1 million in estimated net proceeds, Biolidics intends to use around half of it - about S$1.6 million - to expand the group's presence in its existing markets and into new market segments, as well as to establish new sales channels.

About S$792,000, or roughly one-quarter of the net proceeds, will go into expanding the company's businesses through investments, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures

and/or strategy collaborations with third parties. The rest will be used for general working capital purposes.

Separately, in September last year, Biolidics announced that its executive director and chief executive, Lew Kwang Ping, 51, had resigned from the company effective Jan 22, 2020 to pursue other interests. Since then, the management and operations of the company have been under the helm of the board and its senior management.

For the full-year ended Dec 31, 2019, Biolidics narrowed its loss to S$4.8 million from a loss of S$6.3 million a year ago. Loss per share stood at 1.98 Singapore cents for the 12-month period, against a loss per share of 4.95 Singapore cents in the preceding year. This came as revenue rose to about S$1.4 million from S$1.3 million in FY2018.

Biolidics shares ended at 19.4 Singapore cents on Monday, down 1.1 cent or 5.37 per cent.