Upson International Corp., retailer of personal computers and information technology products, is listing on Monday, April 3, at the main board of the Philippine Stock Exchange and trade under the ticker symbol UPSON.
“We are happy to note that we had a healthy participation of institutional investors, with a significant majority from foreign funds which is a strong testament to their confidence in our company, the retail sector, and the Philippines at large,” company president and CEO Arlene Sy said.
Upson’s offering, the second initial public offering of the year, consists of 625 million primary common shares with an over-allotment option of up to 62.5 million shares priced at P2.40 per share. The IPO raised P1.65 billion.
First Metro Investment Corp. was the issue manager, bookrunner and joint lead underwriter of the IPO. RCBC Capital Corp. was joint lead underwriter.
Net proceeds from the IPO was estimated at P1.42 billion.
The money will fund the company’s store network expansion with the opening of 250 stores from 2023 to 2027, or an additional retail space of 25,000 square meters.
For this year, Upson expects opening 50 stores within the National Capital Region and key cities in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.
“We understand the ever-growing need for electronic gadgets and accessories, and how it invites competition. Nevertheless, we believe that to maintain our market leadership and for a stronger presence, this will be attained by further establishing stores nationwide. Having a robust nationwide network also helps sustain our customers’ top-of-mind recall of our brands,” Sy said.
Upson operates a retail network of 200 stores nationwide, with retail brand outlets such as Octagon Computer Superstore, Micro Valley, Gadget King and Octagon Mobile and even concept and specialty stores like Acer, HP, Brother, and Silvertec in select locations.
At end-September 2022, Upson reported a net income of P400.23 million, 68 percent more than only P237.38 million the year before. Net sales rose 10 percent to P7.03 billion from previous of only P6.38 billion.
