by HARIZAH KAMEL / pic credit: ramssol.com

RAMSSOL Group Bhd seeks to raise RM25.1 million from its IPO to partly fund its regional business expansion.

The local leading human capital management (HCM) solutions and technology provider offer shares at 45 sen each, with Ramssol having an estimated market capitalisation of RM100.4 million when it lists on the ACE Market of Bursa Malaysia on July 13, 2021.

RM2.5 million from the IPO proceeds will be allocated for business expansion into the Philippines while RM6.3 million will be used for the expansion of its in-house employee engagement mobile app Feet’s, as well as that of third-party collaboration platform, Lark, in South-East Asia.

Another RM4.1 million will be used for research and development (R&D) expenditure, while RM7.6 million will be set aside for working capital and the remaining RM4.6 million for listing expenses.

Ramssol provides HCM solutions and technology to enhance human resource (HR) functions in organisations and educational institutions through automating administration processes and streamlining policies for effective workforce management.

CEO Clement Tan said the expansion to the Philippines is expected to grow the group’s business regionally and strengthen its position as a regional HCM solution and tech specialist.

The size of the HCM solutions industry in the countries like Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam,

Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines grew from US$226.86 million in 2017 to US$257.69 million (RM1.08 billion) in 2020 and at a compound annual growth rate of 4.34%.

“For the financial year ending 2020, Ramssol captured a market share of 1.33% in the HCM solutions industry in the countries involved, comprising provision of HCM solutions using software from Oracle Corp, SAP SE and Workday Inc.

“Digitalisation of HR functions for greater operational and cross-departmental efficiency is expected to drive the demand for HCM solutions,” he said during the group’s virtual prospectus launch yesterday.

Ramssol will be enhancing Feet’s with the inclusion of artificial intelligence (AI) technology and developing bolt-on modules in HCM solutions through allocation for R&D activities.

Tan said the group plans to purchase software licences of Oracle’s cloud-based HCM software for its internal R&D activities to develop bolt-on modules in HCM solutions.

“We will also focus on increasing the sale of software licences as part of the provision of HCM and student management solutions whereby we will purchase the HCM and student management software licences from software vendors.

“As the sale of software licences generates an additional stream of profit, we intend to secure the sales of software licences when we secure new projects in the future,” he said.

In 2020, Ramssol expanded its business into provision of information technology-related training to Malaysians who intend to upskill their technical knowledge primarily in computer software and solutions.

Tan added that the group intends to continue expanding this new business segment by closely observing the market needs.

Ramssol’s IPO exercise will involve 11.2 million shares allocated to the Malaysian public.