CABLE and wire manufacturer Southern Cable Group Bhd has secured shareholders’ approval for the proposed amendments to the company’s constitution, thus paving the way for the transfer of its listing status to the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia.
The Kedah-based company expects the transfer exercise to take place in 4Q 2021 pending approvals from the Securities Commission (SC) and Bursa Malaysia.
“The transfer of Southern Cable’s to the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia in less than a year after our ACE Market listing mirrors our bright prospects in the high-growth cables and wires market,” the company’s managing director Tung Eng Hai pointed out during its virtual annual general meeting (AGM) today.
“Not only do we supply cables and wires to key utility providers such as Tenaga Nasional Bhd and Telekom Malaysia Bhd but also to major infrastructure projects such as the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) as well as the Refinery and Petrochemical Integrated Development (RAPID) project in Pengerang, Johor, among others.”
Tung expects Southern Cable to post resilient growth in 2H 2021 as the company has tapped the roll-out of mega projects across key sectors such as power, telecommunication, infrastructure & construction and oil & gas (O&G).
The company is also in the process of expanding its cable and wire production capacity to support its growth by building a new production facility adjacent to its existing facility in Kuala Ketil (Kedah).
Construction works for the new production facility are expected to commence in 2H 2021 which would provide an additional annual capacity of 5,000 km (kilometres). Upon completion in 2H 2022, the group’s total production capacity for cables and wires would increase by about 15% to 38,780km annually.
The expansion comes on the backdrop of favourable demand outlook for cables and wires in Malaysia.
According to the Energy Commission of Malaysia, the country’s total installed electricity generation capacity grew from 24,275MW (megawatts) in 2010 to 36,585MW in 2019 while another 6,077MW in new generation capacity would be required by 2030.
“The transfer to the Main Market would help reinforce our profile as a leading and trusted provider of cables and wires,” projected Tung. “We also target to achieve more investor participation in our shares which would also help to enhance shareholders’ value.”
Southern Cable was listed on the ACE Market of Bursa Malaysia on Oct 16 last year at an initial public offering (IPO) price of 34 sen/share.
At the close of today’s trading, the company was down 0.5 sen or 1.06% to 46.5 sen with 897,300 shares traded, thus valuing the company at RM372 mil. – June 10, 2021
