SISB poised to become first school listed on local bourse

SISB poised to become first school listed on local bourse

Koh: Public offering of 260 million shares this year
Koh: Public offering of 260 million shares this year

SISB Co Ltd, the manager of Singapore International School in Thailand, is expected to become the first education business to list on the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) this year, with an initial public offering of 260 million shares.

The IPO funds will be used as working capital to increase education quality and facilitate loan repayment, said SISB chief executive Kelvin Koh.

Founded in 2001, Singapore International School of Bangkok launched SISB Ekkamai as its first campus and opened the Pracha Uthit campus in 2012, followed by the Suvarnabhumi campus in 2013 and Chiang Mai and Thon Buri campuses in 2017.

SISB's five campuses use the Singaporean and British curricula as the foundation for teaching and learning.

The five campuses can accommodate 4,175 students. The number of enrolled students currently stands at 2,274.

The company has total registered capital of 470 million baht or 940 million shares at a par value of 50 satang each and paid-up capital of 340 million baht or 680 million shares, Mr Koh said.

SISB will place 260 million shares or 27.66% of total registered shares for the IPO, comprising 26 million shares for directors and employees and 234 million shares for the public.

The IPO price has yet to be disclosed after the filing was submitted last Wednesday, said Somphop Keerasuntonpong, managing director of Finansia Syrus Securities.

He said SISB will be the first school listed on Thailand's bourse.

"Finally, Thailand will have an education business listing akin to those on other bourses such as Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia," Mr Somphop said.

At the end of June, SISB's debt-to-equity (D/E) ratio stood at 4.22, including tuition fees received in advance, which accounting standards require to be booked as debt.

Mr Somphop said the D/E ratio and interest expense will decrease significantly after loan repayment.

For the first half, the company reported a net profit of 57.70 million baht and 465.68 million for total revenue.

Tuition fees' contribution of total revenue was 454.78 million baht, with the rest coming from education equipment sales.

Posted revenue over the past three years was 785.38 million, 623.49 million and 543.92 million baht for 2016, 2015 and 2014, respectively.

Reported net profit for the past three years was 59.60 million, 84.73 million and 76.51 million baht for 2016, 2015 and 2014, respectively.

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