NSL keen on SET listing to fund future expansion
NSL Foods Co, the bakery producer for supermarkets and convenience store chains, is scheduled to list on the Stock Exchange of Thailand next year to raise funding to support future expansion.
Somchai Asavapiyanond, the company’s president, said the company plans to submit its filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) by May, with Asia Plus Securities as financial adviser.
“Listing our company on the Stock Exchange of Thailand will help empower us to sustain our business growth in the long term, transforming our company to become professionally run, from family-run,” said Mr Somchai.
Proceeds will be used to diversify the company’s businesses to food services, develop new products and expand its overseas business.
NSL Foods was established 15 years ago to produce bakery products such as sandwiches, cakes and burgers mainly for 7-Eleven stores.
With about 90% of sales reliant on 7-Eleven, the company recently embarked on reducing its risk by finding a new source of income from new business and product categories.
The company acquired Quality Food, an importer of seafood products, to serve the food services channel, including restaurants and hotels.
“We’ve branched out our business to imported frozen food in Thailand because the market totals 20 billion baht per year and there are only 3-5 big players in the market,” he said.
The company wants to expand its food services business this year, raising sales of its imported frozen food business in 2020 to 280 million baht, up from 200 million last year.
Mr Somchai said the company also started exporting its own health snacks to Singapore, France, China and Taiwan last year with sales of 20 million baht. The company is now conducting a feasibility study to export snacks made from insects such as crickets to the US and Canada in the future.
“Insect snacks are a global trend because the world population is growing and food resources are decreasing. They have high nutritional value and low risk of transmitting zoonotic disease,” he said. “The edible insect market is projected to grow 24% per year over the next five years globally.”
The growth will be strongest in North America and Europe. The worldwide market is projected to grow from US$400 million in 2018 to almost $1.2 billion in 2023, said Mr Somchai.
Asia-Pacific and Latin America account for over 50% of the market. The average resident there eats 450900 grammes of insects per year as demand is increasing for high-protein, low-fat foods.
Sales from the export market are estimated to reach 100 million baht, boosting total sales to reach 6 billion baht by 2024, up from 3.8 billion projected this year.