Aspial Lifestyle moving to SGX mainboard on May 4 after meeting public float requirement

[SINGAPORE] Catalist-listed Aspial Lifestyle will shift its listing to the mainboard of the Singapore Exchange (SGX) on May 4.Trading of its shares on the mainboard will commence at 9 am that day, the company announced in a Tuesday (Apr 28) bourse filing. The confirmation of the proposed mainboard transfer, announced on Mar 4, comes after Aspial Lifestyle met all conditions laid out in the in-principle approval for the shift granted by the Singapore Exchange. In March SGX announced its in-principle approval for the upgrade to the main board subject to several requirements. These include shareholders’ approval and a minimum public float requirement - at least 15 per cent of its issue capital had to be owned by no less than 500 shareholders who are members of the public. The subsidiary of Aspial Corporation narrowly fell short of this requirement as at Mar 4, with 14.94 per cent of its entire share capital in public hands. Navigate Asia ina new global orderGet the insights delivered to your inbox.Aspial Corp, the group’s controlling shareholder, divested 10 million shares - around 0.54 per cent of Aspial Lifestyle’s share capital - at S$0.31 apiece, amounting to S$3.1 million. The sale put Aspial Lifestyle in compliance with the minimum public float requirement by bringing the percentage of its share capital owned by the public above 15 per cent, while Aspial Corp’s stake in the group was lowered to 70.79 per cent from 71.33 per cent. On Mar 4, Aspial Lifestyle said the transfer to the main board was to enhance the group’s ability to access equity and debt capital markets, as the investment mandates of some institutional and international investors focus on mainboard-listed firms. SEE ALSOAspial Lifestyle proposes transfer to SGX mainboardAspial Corp H2 profit rises 34% on subsidiary’s strong performance but no dividend declared This would support future funding requirements and improve financial flexibility for expansion pursuits, including diversification of its revenue streams, it added then. For the full year ended last December, the group’s net profit surged 514 per cent to S$21.5 million, a sharp increase from S$3.5 million in FY2024. Full-year revenue jumped 29 per cent to S$875.8 million.Shares of Aspial Lifestyle closed Tuesday at S$0.42, down by 3.4 per cent or S$0.015. Year to date, the counter has more than doubled from S$0.20 in January. Shares of Aspial Corporation ended the day S$0.133, down by 1.5 per cent or S$0.002. Decoding Asia newsletter: your guide to navigating Asia in a new global order. Sign up here to get Decoding Asia newsletter. Delivered to your inbox. Free.