Candy maker YLF cites market souring on US tariffs as reason to withdraw Singapore IPO

Sentiment is ‘badly shaken’ with the current uncertainty, says its chief executive

YLF Group Marketing – the maker of Pikin plum candies – is withdrawing its application for a Singapore initial public offering (IPO) due to tough market conditions created by US tariffs, its chief executive Lee Tee Wei told The Business Times.

“Circumstances such as the US import duty tariffs have made the market unfavourable for IPO. Market sentiment has also been badly shaken in light of this uncertainty,” said Lee in an e-mail response to queries from BT.

YLF, which manufactures and distributes candy in Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, lodged its preliminary prospectus to list on the Catalist board of the Singapore Exchange on Mar 27. It withdrew the prospectus on Apr 14.

The company had expressed hopes in its prospectus to expand its product mix, grow its overseas distribution network and pursue acquisitions, joint ventures or strategic alliances.

YLF was started in 1975 by Lee’s parents as food and beverage company Yew Lian Foodstuffs Trading, registering its first Pikin trademark in Singapore in 1987. It also developed the Beardy candy brand in 2000 and the Toy’s Castle brand of toys in 2015, while distributing third-party brands PEZ and Yupi.

The company has a production facility in Johor and a distribution network – with its own logistics fleet – in Singapore and Malaysia, as well as through an associated company in Thailand. It is also expanding into Vietnam.

For the nine-month period ended September 2024, YLF’s net profit fell 42.1 per cent to S$2 million, from S$3.4 million in the year-ago period.

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