The firm’s gearing level will 1st rise after it completes the demerger from its pharmaceuticals unit

By RAHIMI YUNUS / Pic By ISMAIL CHE RUS

Cloudaron Group Bhd, a cloud technology solutions provider, plans to have its own online business platform as part of its business strategy and expansion in the Asean digital space.

ED Lum Piew said the company is transitioning itself from a cloud infrastructure provider to a digital business platform operator as well.

“We believed that having the combination of online businesses as well as its infrastructure form almost an end-to-end solution will allow us to offer more to our clients,” he said in a press briefing after the company’s listing on the Leading Entrepreneur Accelerator Platform (LEAP) Market in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

He added that when companies work with vendors or consultants, they don’t really own and run online businesses.

“So, we think that a clever blend of having our own online business platforms will differentiate us from our competitors,” he said.

As part of the expansion plan Lum said the company has acquired a 10% stake in a Canadian real estate software-as-a-service company recently.

The company offers subscription, a plug-and-play website, and content management services targeted at the real estate market.

Singapore-based Cloudaron is also expanding its footprints in Asean and much of the expenditure will be funded by the capital raised via its listing on the LEAP Market.

Currently, some 80% of Cloudaron’s revenue is from Singapore and Malaysia.

“We mainly have resellers in Indonesia, the Philippines and a few other countries. We want to open offices in Indonesia and the Philippines to really penetrate the market. In fact, our Indonesian office just opened on Monday,” Lum said.

Cloudaron’s orderbook is currently sitting above RM18 million, in which according to Cloudaron MD and CEO Ong Chang Jeh, will give the company a one-year profit visibility. It has planned to pay an annual dividend of up to 20% of its future net profits.

Based on AT Kearney report, Asean digital economy currently generates US$150 billion (RM635.8 billion) annually with a compound annual growth rate of between 10%-15% for the next few years.

The nine-year-old company had issued 50 million shares or equivalent to 6.4% of its enlarged share capital.

Its LEAP debut shares yesterday morning have given the company a market capitalisation of RM116.3 million and successfully raised RM5.5 million.

At the listing, shares of Cloudaron (stock code: 03001 [CLOUD]) opened at 15 sen, up 36.36%, or four sen, higher from its issue price of 11 sen.

“For a young, growing technology company, the decision to go public is indeed an exciting development for us. It is the opening of a new chapter that starts our next growth trajectory,” Ong said.

Cloudaron chairman Datuk Larry Gan Nyap Liou said the company has also targeted to be transferred onto the ACE or Main Market between two and three years from now.

He said the move would be based on the exchange expectations as well. Gan added that the company was actually “exchange-ready” six to 12 months ago and is exploring to list on Singapore or Australia’s exchanges before settling with the LEAP Market in Malaysia.

Cloudaron’s shares closed at 16.5 sen a piece, up 50%, or 5.5 sen, yesterday.