Supernet Limited, a subsidiary of Telecard Limited, has successfully crossed the Rs475 million it had initially targeted from its initial offering at the GEM board. The book-building process was concluded with an oversubscription of 1.4 times, whereby the company received bids worth Rs659 million in the two days of the process, 12th and 13th April. The company also mentioned that share prices clocked in a premium of Rs12.5, attaining a strike price of Rs22.5.
This gives a glimpse of the market sentiment towards IT companies going for Initial Public Offerings on the PSX. Supernet was the first IT company to list on the freshly constructed Gem board, where a diverse range of investors participated including institutions investors, high-net worth individuals, and Roshan Digital Account holders.
The offering comprised 21,111,121 Ordinary shares, portraying 18.81 percent of the total paid up share capital post-offering of Supernet Limited at Rs10 face value.
Moreover, the Price Earnings (P/E) ratio of Supernet was significantly lower compared to that of the remaining IT industry, clocking in at 6.7x compared to the average IT sector P/E of 22x.
“Market sentiments are very positive towards tech companies. This can be judged from the fact that tech sector is trading at a P/E of approximately 20, while the average market P/E is 5,” said Topline Securities CEO Mohammad Sohail.
The book-building of Supernet will also help create a conducive environment for future tech companies going for Initial Public Offerings. There is extensive demand for tech stocks in this era, where a boom in the tech industry can be observed throughout Pakistan. With the exponential growth of technology companies; investors feel that technology stocks can yield them an above average growth.
The company has drafted an extensive expansion plan, for which the proceeds shall be utilized. The objective is to accelerate Supernet’s growth into different business segments including Cyber Security, Power Solutions, and IT & Infrastructure Solutions. The funds shall be siphoned towards working capital and capital expenditure for the provision of network infrastructure at customer premises including routers, switches, optical fiber, LAN and Wifi infrastructure. Additionally, raising equity will help the company scale up its computing capabilities, including servers, storage, cloud services and enterprise applications besides power infrastructure and cyber security.
Founded in 1995 and acquired by Telecard Limited in 2004, Supernet is one of the key enablers for adoption and implementation of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) offering a portfolio of local-global integrated communications infrastructure solutions to telecommunication companies, defense industry, and the public sector. The company has grown from Supernet to Supernet group of companies to diversify into various domains and combat increasing competition. The services offered include IT & Cyber Security managed services, IT & Power infrastructures solutions, Software solutions and International Cross Border connectivity businesses. Supernet has a pool of highly trained and experienced human resource, specializing in a wide range of ICT networks spread across Pakistan covering more than 200 cities including towns.
