KUALA LUMPUR: Solarvest Holdings Bhd’s share price more than doubled on its ACE Market debut yesterday, making it the star performer on Bursa Malaysia in terms of first-day performance this year.

The stock opened at 60 sen, a premium of 25 sen over its initial public offering (IPO) price of 35 sen, before rising to close at 75.5 sen — a 40.5 sen or 115.71% gain. This raised the group’s market capitalisation to RM294.9 million.

Solarvest was also the day’s most active counter on Bursa with 262.94 million shares traded.

Solarvest’s performance beat that of i-Stone Group Bhd, which recorded a 53.13% price gain on its first day of trading on the ACE Market last July (see chart).

However, it is still far off compared with Uni Wall APS Holdings Bhd’s year-to-date performance. Listed on the LEAP Market in January, Uni Wall’s share price has rallied more than five times its IPO price.

Solarvest is a turnkey engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning (EPCC) solutions specialist that designs, procures, installs and commissions large-scale solar (LSS) projects.

The group is 41.1% owned by listed building materials distributor Chin Hin Group Bhd, formerly known as Boon Koon Group Bhd.

It was reported that Solarvest had won four out of six bids in the second round of the LSS2 scheme, and is expecting to do better in the LSS3 bidding, with the outcome expected by year end.

For the six months ended Sept 30, 2019, Solarvest’s net profit was RM7.87 million on a revenue of RM139.96 million — a margin of 5.62%.

Solarvest is the first pure-play solar EPCC firm listed on Bursa. Its direct competitor Mattan Bhd is reportedly planning to go public. Other peers include Cypark Resources Bhd and loss-making VSolar Group Bhd.