MetaOptics surges 25% on Catalist trading debut

The company’s placement of 30 million shares at S$0.20 apiece has brought in S$6 million

Semiconductor optics company MetaOptics’ share price rose as much as 25 per cent on Tuesday (Sep 9) morning on its trading debut on the Catalist board of the Singapore Exchange (SGX).

After opening at S$0.21, the counter rose to S$0.25 by 9.06 am, up 25 per cent from its initial public offering (IPO) price of S$0.20.

It gradually pared some of the gains to stand at S$0.23 as at 10.30 am, with about 1.1 million shares changing hands.

MetaOptics’ placement of 30 million shares at S$0.20 apiece brought in S$6 million and the shares were fully subscribed as at noon on Friday. There were 209 placees, with five of them holding 15.5 million shares combined.

CEO and executive chairman Mark Thng had said his company has “certain capabilities that the stock exchange and (others) are looking for” and believes MetaOptics is the only company in Singapore currently developing single-layered glass lenses termed “metalenses”.

It intends to use the proceeds primarily for product development, research and development, as well as strategic partnerships. Around 20 to 30 per cent of the funds will be used for overseas expansion – focused on Asia-Pacific – on top of working capital and general corporate purposes.

BT in your inbox

Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox.

The four-year-old company hopes that the Catalist debut will turn its fortunes around, as it is yet to make a profit. It suffered a net loss of S$2.3 million in 2024, with revenue of S$79,440. For the first quarter of 2025, its net loss was S$706,391.

The company now has more than 235 million outstanding shares, translating to a market capitalisation of about S$47.2 million.

MetaOptics’ IPO is the sixth listing that the local bourse has had this year, after those of Dezign Format, Vin’s Holdings, Info-Tech Systems, NTT DC Real Estate Investment Trust and Lum Chang Holdings. There was also a secondary listing by China Medical System.

SEE ALSO

Tuesday’s listing joins SGX’s growing technology cluster, which has a total market capitalisation of S$113 billion.