Baladna, the holding company of Qatar's dairy major, whose initial public offering (IPO) was a roaring success, will be listed on the Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE) on December 11, thus taking the total number of listed constituents to 47.

The shares of Baladna will be listed with the code “BLDN” in the industrial sector, which now has 10 entities.

Highlighting that, as usual, price floatation for Baladna will be permitted only for the first day of listing, a QSE communiqué said price fluctuation on the second day and thereafter will be permitted by 10% up/down as is the case for all the other listed firms.

There will be no change in the trading session during the first day of listing, except for the pre-open period, as only brokerage companies will be permitted to enter buy/sell orders for Baladna shares starting at 8:30am only during the first listing day; while the pre-open period for other listed companies will remain as usual, at 9:00am.

The data will become available at the brokerage firms effective Sunday, December 8, 2019, so investors will be able to submit their buy/sell orders directly to the brokers as of that date.

Baladna's IPO had hit the market from November 27 for a fortnight. The offer comprised 1.43bn new shares at QR1.01 a piece (including listing fees of QR0.01), representing 75% of the share capital. The 75% IPO included 52% or 988.52mn shares to individual and corporate investors and 23% or 437.23mn shares to "strategic" investors as General Retirement and Social Insurance Authority (10%), Hassad Food (5%), Al Meera Consumer Goods (4%), and Mwani Qatar and Widam Food (2% each).

The IPO provided eligible investors the opportunity to invest in Baladna Food Industries or BFI, Qatar's beacon of self-sufficiency in the dairy sector.

Market experts are of the view that the dairy sector has high growth potential and the government direct and indirect support would provide cushion for the new entrant in the QSE. "The earnings graph looks positive" (in the short-to-medium term), one of them said.

On the basis of developments in the fiscal period ended June 30, 2019, the founders and senior management currently expect higher revenue growth to be in the range of 150-170% for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2019, compared to the previous fiscal year, according to Baladna’s IPO prospectus.

The expected EBITDA (earnings before interest taxes depreciation and amortisation) margin for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2019 is to be in the range of 40-50%, including government support, which is slated to be QR248.7mn for the full year 2019.


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