PETALING JAYA: Life Water Bhd, which is enroute to a listing on the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia, is in a strong position to maintain its market share in Sabah and capitalise on new opportunities in Sarawak and Brunei.
TA Research said it believes the bottled-water company’s market position would remain strong, supported by its solid track record, brand recognition, economies of scale and technological investments.
“We believe the group’s upcoming new products, combined with ongoing marketing and promotional activity, will enable its brands to maintain prominence and capitalise on new opportunities in Sabah as well as in neighbouring Sarawak and Brunei,” the research house stated in a report on the company.
In Malaysia, Life Water commanded 11% of the RM1.28bil bottled water market in 2023, generating RM138.7mil in revenue in its financial year 2024 (FY24).
At present, the group’s sales remain heavily dependent on the Sabah market, which contributed 98.6% of FY24 revenue, while the remainder coming from Sarawak, Labuan, and Brunei.
Currently, Life Water only serves customers on the fringes of Sarawak, in towns such as Limbang and Lawas, and there is no appointed distributor for its products in those areas.
Life Water said it intends to expand into other parts of Sarawak and Brunei and the group is in the process of identifying local distributors to leverage their local knowledge and distribution networks, with the goal of appointing distributors by the end of 2025.
The company’s plans include commissioning a new drinking water plant in Keningau, expected to begin operations by the end of December 2024, establishing a new drinking water line at the Sandakan Sibuga Plant with operations expected to commence by 2025, and the new Sandakan Sibuga drinking water plant by 2027.
The company aimed to raise RM63.42mil by issuing 97.56 million new ordinary shares at an initial public offering (IPO) price of 65 sen each.
The IPO involves an offer for sale of up to 28.4 million existing shares. Of the total public issue of 97.6 million shares, 23.7 million will be offered to the Malaysian public, 14.2 million to eligible persons, 59.2 million to Investment, Trade and Industry Ministry-approved bumiputra investors, and 600,000 to selected investors at 65 sen per share.
Collectively, the share offers represent 26.6% of the group’s enlarged issued share capital.
