Leading Taiwanese puppet show producer Pili International Multimedia Co (霹靂國際多媒體) is scheduled to launch an initial public offering on the over-the-counter market on Oct. 7.
According to the company’s prospectus, Pili is planning to issue 4.88 million new shares for the listing.
The company has tentatively set the issue price at NT$150 to raise funds as working capital for future expansion, particularly in 3D movie production based on its popular puppet shows.
Pili will also use the proceeds to cut its debt, expecting its debt-to-asset ratio to fall to 10.30 percent at the end of this month from 15.77 percent recorded at the end of March, according to the prospectus.
In addition to puppet show productions, Pili has generated revenue from the sale of merchandise related to the leading characters of its shows, DVD sales, licensing of its shows to TV networks, and smartphone games.
In the first eight months of this year, Pili’s consolidated sales rose 18.09 percent from a year earlier to NT$446 million (US$14.75 million).
Since last year, the company has worked with about 10 video-sharing Web sites in China, such as Tudou.com (土豆), Sohu.com (搜狐), QQ.com and Pptv.com, to introduce its puppet shows to the China market.
Earlier this month, Pili announced that it was also cooperating with YouTube in an attempt to boost global visibility of puppet shows.
Last year, the puppet show producer posted NT$180.38 million in net profit, up from NT$175.16 million, with earnings per share at NT$4.63.
In the first quarter of this year, Pili’s net profit stood at NT$37.79 million, or NT$0.97 per share.
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