(From left) Critical Holdings CEO Tan Si Lim, COO Chow Chin Seang and independent non-executive directors Teh Wei Keong, Kung Siew Kyan and Saw Soo Fang. (Photo by Low Yen Yeing/The Edge)

KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 18): Newly listed ACE Market counter Critical Holdings Bhd ended its maiden trading day at 57 sen on Monday (Dec 18), up 62.86% from the initial public offering (IPO) price of its shares of 35 sen.

The mechanical, electrical and process utilities (MEP) engineering company saw 136.7 million shares changing hands, making it the fourth most actively traded stock of the day, valuing the group at RM211.9 million.

This makes Critical Holdings the 12th best performing IPO among the 31 new stocks listed on Bursa this year.

Critical Holdings raised a total of RM26.02 million via the public issuance of 74.35 million shares under its IPO.

Of the proceeds raised, RM6 million has been allocated for the acquisition of a new regional office, RM1.6 million for capital expenditure and RM4.5 million for the expansion of its sales and technical team. It has also set aside RM9.92 million for working capital and RM4 million for listing expenses.

Critical Holdings and its group of subsidiaries provide MEP engineering solutions and MEP maintenance and services for critical facilities, namely, plant rooms, cleanrooms and data centres.

The end-user markets it serves include the semiconductor, pharmaceutical and solar photovoltaic panel manufacturing sectors as well as data centre, co-location services, telecommunications, hotel and medical facilities sectors.

At a press conference after the group's listing on Monday, Critical Holdings chief executive officer (CEO) Tan Si Lim said the group is proactively securing more projects, moving forward.

As of Oct 5, the group’s unbilled order book stood at RM264.6 million, which is expected to provide earnings visibility until FY2026.

Of the unbilled orders, RM225.8 million comes from contracts in the northern region (Penang and Kedah), while RM38.7 million is from the central and southern region (Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Johor).

Its plan to expand its sales and technical team, meanwhile, is to support its existing business operations and to venture further into the central and southern regions.

“This will allow us to better manage and control the progress of various larger scale MEP engineering solutions projects we undertake. At the same time, it enables us to supervise and monitor the works of our workers and subcontractors at different project sites simultaneously,” Tan said.

After the team expansion, the group aims to further develop its capacity to undertake more sizable MEP engineering solutions projects.

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