by SHAHEERA AZNAM SHAH/ pic by MUHD AMIN NAHARUL

LEAP Market debutant RedPlanet Bhd is planning to widen its current exposure in Australia through contract biddings for utilities, infrastructure and vertical farming projects over the next two years.

The geographic information system (GIS) services firm has seen a surge in global technology demand for geographic data and information which enable local providers to expand their operation globally, its chairman Lian Wah Seng (picture) said.

“Our group has identified three main sectors which have potential for our expansion in Australia, as well as our maiden entry into certain markets.

“In the past, we delivered use cases for utilities, infrastructure and agricultural customers in Malaysia and we intend to leverage them to secure similar projects in Australia,” he said at the listing ceremony in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

The group is also looking at tendering for more utility projects in the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore.

“Moving forward, we aim to further expand our presence through more contracts in the Asean region and Australia,” Lian added.

In addition to providing GIS services, RedPlanet also offers information and communications technology solutions, including location, navigation, logistic routing and asset management.

Its orderbook currently stands at RM34 million, of which 65% will be delivered in the next 18 months.

“We have submitted bids for projects in the last quarter between March and July worth more than RM30 million, some of which we hope to secure by this quarter.

“We are constantly submitting bids for GIS projects around the region and are trying to double our orderbook by the end of the year,” Lian said.

The bids mostly consisted of international telecommunications, oil and gas, and local utility projects. Presently, about 70% of the group’s contracts are local projects.

RedPlanet opened at 22 sen on the LEAP (Leading Entrepreneur Accelerator Platform) Market of Bursa Malaysia yesterday, marking a 22.2% or four sen premium over its offer price of 18 sen.

The stock closed the day’s trading at 32 sen. The capital-raising exercise involved the placement of 19.93 million shares or 12.5% of the group’s enlarged share capital to raise RM3.59 million.

RM2.02 million or 56.2% of the proceeds will go towards general working capital to strengthen the firm’s workforce in support of its local and overseas expansions.

RM500,000 or 13.9% will be used for the group’s research and development on GIS application in machine learning, artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things.

Based on its enlarged share capital of 159.4 million shares, RedPlanet is expected to have a market capitalisation of RM28.69 million.