Maybank Kim Eng Retail Research - UnUsUaL Limited - Expect a Sellout as it Raises its Curtains
This report was originally published by Maybank Kim Eng Retail Research on 5April 2017.
One of Singapore's leading event companies, UnUsUaL Group is looking to tap onto equity markets to raise funds for business expansion. If successful, it will be the first large‐scale live event production and promotion company to list on the SGX.
UnUsUaL will be issuing close to 97m new shares at $0.20 apiece by way of private placement. Post issue, controlling shareholder, mm2 Asia will own a 42% effective stake (prior: 51%), while founders, the Ong brothers (Leslie and Johnny) will own a collective 40% effective stake (prior: 49%).
Based on the IPO price, UnUsUaL will be valued at $128.6m with 643.2m shares outstanding.
UnUsUaL's business centres around two main business arms namely, event production and event promotion.
Under event production, UnUsUaL provides overall support to the artiste's team or the event organiser in their setup and installation. The company also provides creative input for the production of the event, particularly for large‐scale events.
Meanwhile, its events promotion arm takes charge of the overall planning and managing of concerts and events.
The group's track record include concerts organised and promoted for iKON (K‐pop), Zhang Hui Mei/Ah Mei (Mandarin pop), Michael Bublé (English big band) and more recently, Jacky Cheung (Mandarin pop).
In its most recent 9M16 results, the group reported net profit of $3.8m (+40.4%) although revenue slipped 28.1% to $16m on declines in contributions from both its production (‐15.9%) and promotion (‐49.3%) business arms. This was mainly attributable to a high base effect in 9M15, which witnessed Singapore's 50th anniversary celebrations.
However, earnings were supported by an expansion in gross margin to 37.6% (+10.1ppts) as the group utilised its internal resources for more of its projects instead of outsourcing them.
The group is looking to raise net proceeds of about $17.4m, which are earmarked for:
1) Investments in its upcoming pipeline of promotion and production projects. (57%)
Traditionally, UnUsUaL has been associated with Cantopop and Mandopop but it now intends to expand to K‐pop, which is popular in cities such as Singapore and Bangkok. In 2015, its pipeline consisted of about 20 events, with more than 10 in overseas venues.
Post‐IPO, it plans to beef up its project pipeline to include acts for Singapore favourites such as Stefanie Sun and JJ Lin.
2) Expansion through inorganic growth (23% of net proceeds)
As part of its business strategy, UnUsUaL is also looking for potential avenues for inorganic growth either through acquisitions or JVs/alliances. In particular, the group is looking to build its franchise in the region (Thailand, Malaysia and Philippines) and potentially in North Asia.
3) General working capital purposes (20%)
To recap, back in Aug‐16, when mm2 acquired its 51% stake in UnUsUaL, the term sheet contained an annual net profit guarantee of $5m for three years from FY16 onwards.
This would translate to a fully diluted FY17e EPS of 0.78¢ or 25.6x P/E versus its Japanese and Korean peers of 13.8x and 20.8x respectively. Despite the relatively premium pricing, we note that UnUsUaL boasts a stronger growth profile in light of its growing routine of artistes across the region with exposure to both English, Mandarin and Korean pop genres.
Retail investors looking to gain exposure to UnUsUaL can look to mm2 Asia which owns an effective 41.9% stake (post IPO) in the event com
By Simeon Ang
