While the local bourse floundered yesterday, restaurant operator Wowprime Corp (王品集團) saw its shares rally more than 44 percent on its stock market debut.
The stock closed at NT$492, rising NT$152 from its listing price of NT$340, while the benchmark index and the tourism subindex declined by 0.83 percent and 3.74 percent respectively, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
Wowprime overtook Formosa International Hotels Corp (晶華國際酒店集團) — whose shares slid 2.57 percent to NT$455 — to become the tourism’s sector’s highest priced stock.
Photo: CNA
The stock, which used to trade on the over-the-counter GRETAI Securities Market, issued 5.81 million new shares for its listing on the main bourse and raised about NT$1.98 billion (US$67 million).
STARTING POINT
“Listing on the local bourse is the company’s starting point for expanding our restaurant brands to the world,” Wowprime chairman Steve Day (戴勝益) said at the company’s listing ceremony.
Day said the company, which owns 11 restaurant brands, will focus on expanding the number of restaurants in Taiwan and China instead of creating new brands this year to drive up revenue.
The firm aims to increase its total number of outlets to 315 by the end of this year — with 244 in Taiwan and 71 in China — Day said.
As of the end of last month, Wowprime had 223 outlets — 179 in Taiwan and 44 in China.
The Chinese market is expected to be a major driver for the company this year, Day said, adding that the company would also launch a restaurant in Hong Kong in the near future, which should help drive up its subsidiary’s sales in China.
“It would be conservative to say that the group’s consolidated annual sales would grow by only 10 percent this year,” Day said.
“However, a 30 percent expansion in sales would be the upper limit,” he added.
The firm launched a new department earlier this month to manage its overseas franchising business, with an eye to tapping into ASEAN markets.
It had granted the right to Mai Tan Co Ltd, a Thailand-based restaurant operator, with its first restaurant opening in the Southeast Asian country in the second half of last year.
US BEEF
Asked about the government’s decision to conditionally open the market to US beef imports, Day said Wowprime would follow the law and make sure that the beef purchased by the company is high-quality meat.
The company, whose brands include Wang Steak (王品台塑牛排), Tasty (西堤), Tokiya (陶板屋), and restaurants specializing in hot pot and Japanese cuisine, as well as a number of cafes, reported NT$9.6 billion in total revenue last year, a 36 percent increase from a year earlier.
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