DagangHalal Plc (DagangHalal), the world’s first global e-marketplace to address the need for Halal verification has been successfully listed on London’s ISDX Growth Market on 7 April 2016. With the listing, DagangHalal is now well- positioned to capitalise on the global ecommerce sales growth which is expected to reach USD4.9 trillion in 2020. The company is also on the right footing to benefit from the rising spending power of Muslim consumers which is projected to increase to USD5.3 trillion by 2020 (source Smith Zander).
Speaking at a media briefing, Chairman, Dato’ Muhadzir Mohd Isa of DagangHalal said, “With clear strategy in place and favourable market trends, including widespread internet use and smartphone adoption across the world’s Muslim population, DagangHalal now has the opportunity to further its position as a focal centre for Halal trade, one of the largest global markets.”
“I am very pleased that DagangHalal has joined the ISDX Growth Market which is a milestone event for us. Having considered various exchanges, we believe that ISDX is the most appropriate market for DagangHalal to achieve our long term goal to become the world’s largest digital Halal marketplace. The company’s growth strategy is also aligned with Malaysia’s agenda to be a Global Halal Hub. The business ecosystem of the halal industry is well in place in Malaysia, and this is a strong catalyst to the huge growth of the industry. DagangHalal will play our role as a facilitator to the country’s Halal industry.”
“The Group’s overall objective is to promote Halal trade by facilitating and simplifying Halal business transactions anywhere and anytime. As the biggest B2B Halal e-marketplace, providing integrated and end-to-end e-commerce services and “offline to online” integrated businesses in the Halal trade value chain, this will definitely support the growing interest of the halal market towards global standards. The coverage of the expansion will also include logistics, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, personal care and packaging, medical and wellness, amongst others,” added Dato’ Muhadzir.
The Group intends to use the net proceeds of approximately £3.6 million to accelerate its growth strategy, including growing the Group’s ecosystem in existing core markets, expanding the Group’s activities into new geographies targeting Indonesia, China and Japan, increasing the number of Halal CB partners and further developing the Group’s platform, products and proprietary technology.
A gross proceed of approximately £4.2 million has been raised by way of a subscription of approximately £3.9 million from Malaysian investors and a placing of approximately £0.3 million from UK investors.
“The subscription raised approximately RM22.4 million as part of a pre-admission fundraising. In addition, prior to the listing, the Group’s operating subsidiary DagangAsia Net Sdn Bhd had received funding support from various companies and individuals including the Malaysia Technology Development Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Khazanah Nasional Malaysia, the sovereign wealth fund of the Government of Malaysia,” said Dato’ Muhadzir.
The Placing raised gross proceeds of approximately £0.3 million from UK investors through the placing of 1.2 million new shares at the placing price of 25p. The total number of Ordinary Shares in issue at admission is 58,488,442 giving the Group a market capitalisation at the Placing Price of approximately £14.6 million.
Arden Partners plc is acting as Corporate Adviser and Joint Broker to the Company, while Optiva Securities Ltd is acting as Joint Broker and Ingenious Haus (UK) Ltd is acting as the Financial Adviser.
