Hot on the heels of Old Chang Kee, which listed on Catalist on Jan 16, comes Afor, a retailer specialising in the sale of Apple brand products.

Afor kicked off Singaporeʼs second Catalist listing this year with an initial public offering (IPO) of 23.5m new shares at $0.33 each. It was listed on Jan 18. Afor is Asiaʼs first Apple premium reseller, specialising in the sale of Apple brand products and its complementary products, through its EpiCentre stores located in Wheelock Place and Suntec City Mall.

Recently, famous curry puff maker, Old Chang Kee, also launched an IPO for a listing on Catalist, which has replaced Sesdaq. Like Old Chang Kee, Aforʼs listing application was made under the Sesdaq rules and Afor would be given a timeframe to comply with the new Catalist listing rules.

Speaking of portable multimedia players, why does the Zen series of mp3 and mp4 players from Creative Technology not sell as well as Appleʼs iPods? Simply because the players of Creative are not as “cool” as those of Apple. This despite the fact that Creative had the first mover advantage as it launched its series of mp3 players earlier than Apple.

The increasing popularity of Apple products like the upcoming longawaited iPhone launch in Asia in 2008 will no doubt help to boost Aforʼs growth in revenue and profits.

IN THE NAME OF EXPANSION

CEO Jimmy Fong said, “Afor aims to raise net proceeds of about $7.8m to help in expansion plans.”

Afor plans to extend its coverage of the Singapore market and increase its market share by increasing the number of its EpiCentres in other suitable locations in Singapore.

The IPO comprised 1m public-tranche shares and 22.5m placement shares. The invitation shares represent about 25.1 per cent of Aforʼs enlarged share capital.

Based on FY07 net earnings of $3.47m, the offer price of $0.33 is at a historical price-earnings ratio (PER) of 6.65 times. CEO Fong added, “The IPO launch is a significant milestone for our company as it will help to fund our expansion plans as we replicate our digital lifestyle store concept in Asia and grow.”

Afor was awarded the ʻTop Apple Point-of-Sale (Retail Store) in Asia 2007ʼ this year. It recently expanded its operations into Malaysia with the setting up of EpiCentre@Pavilion, at Pavilion Kuala Lumpur in September 2007. Without doubt, Afor is selling hot Apple products which consumers find cool and like to get their hands on. But given the fact that Afor is not the only distributor of Appleʼs products and has to compete with many other resellers, means it will always have to fight for a slice of the Apple pie.