Unusual plans to double number of shows

SINGAPORE: After staging concerts, here, for the past two decades, the city-state’s bestperforming initial public offering (IPO) this year is taking its entertainment on the road.

Unusual Ltd, which will run Justin Bieber’s concert, here, later this year, wants to double the number of shows it organises by next year, said chief executive officer Leslie Ong in an interview on Tuesday.

New markets it’s expanding into include China’s second-tier cities and capitals across Southeast Asia.

“These cities have great potential because of their population, and because there aren’t many concerts there,” said Ong, refer- ring to smaller Chinese cities such as Wuxi and Wuhan.

“The crowd is hungry for such events.”

While China offers opportunities, a challenge the company may face is in securing venues, which are largely operated by private entities, according to Jarick Seet, head of small and mid-cap research at RHB Research Institute Singapore Pte.

Ong said he’s in talks with a venue operator that owns multiple exhibition halls across China.

The company is considering acquisitions to complement its business, such as ticketing platforms. Ong is also interested in buying rights to children shows and sporting events.

Unusual’s ambitions in China come at a time when Chinese appetite for leisure and recreational options is increasing.

The country’s domestic media and entertainment industry has grown by more than 70 per cent in the last five years to US$204 billion (RM875.87billion), said PwC.

Chinese consumers are also going overseas for fun, spending less on shopping and on unique experiences they can’t get at home.

The company’s share price has surged 158 per cent since its April listing. The stock is trading at a price-to-earnings multiple of 5060, said Seet, which is expensive even if the firm doubles the number of shows in a year.

Singapore’s Straits Times Index trades at 13 times earnings.