Malaysian Genomics Resource Centre Bhd (MGRC) made its debut on the ACE Market of Bursa Malaysia Securities today with a 12 sen premium. It opened at RM1.20 with 636,100 shares traded.

Managing Director Robert George Hercus who was delighted with the counter's performance, said the price was consistent with what had been expected for a first day trading.

En route to today's listing, the contract genomics services company made a public issue of 17.1 million new shares and an offer for sale of two million existing shares at RM1.08 a piece.
Its public tranche of two million shares was oversubscribed by 28.7 times.

Three hours after the debut, the share which had hit RM1.21, retreated to RM1.07 on lack of follow through support.
By the midday closing, it shed to RM1.05 with 50.831 million shares changing hands.

Speaking to reporters after the listing ceremony at Exchange Square, Bukit Kewangan, here, Robert said MGRC's expertise in genome sequencing and analysis was already well known in the bioinformatics industry globally, but only to those within the industry.

Through the listing, he said, MGRC hoped to raise the awareness and highlight the growth potential of this exciting new space to the public at large.

'The purpose of listing is not only to expand our capacity in term of equipment and staff but also to spend money in more markets locally and internationally. 'We are looking predominantly at the United States and Europe,' he added.

MGRC has received the approval to implement two genome sequencing and analysis projects from the Malaysian government.
The two projects are expected to be completed over a period of 12-18 months, subject to the finalisation of contract terms.

Robert said that while the details were being finalised, the company was already in the process of buying its first machines, costing around RM2.7 million, which were expected to arrive by December.

'It will give us capacity to sequence two human genomes every week,' he said.

'We also anticipate significant breakthroughs in the area of human genomics services as sequencing becomes more accessible to the customers,' he added.

For the 13-month period ended June 30, 2010, MGRC recorded an after tax profit of RM9.32 million on the back of RM15.78 million revenue. -- Bernama