M

ultifinance firm Pool Advista Finance is upbeat that its strategy to focus on providing financing for the productive sector will bear fruit despite the stiff competition in the market, supported by the extra funds it received from the initial public offering (IPO) it conducted on Friday.

The company would expand its business next year by focusing on working capital financing and investment financing, said Asa Mirzaqi, Pool Advista Finance president director.

“We are optimistic that we can compete with other players, as currently many multifinance firms focus on offering financing to consumptive sectors, while we focus on productive sectors,” he said at the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) building in Jakarta.

The company also has confidence in its existing strategies as its current business model had generated a positive financial performance in 2017. It posted Rp 27.06 billion (US$1.8 million) in net profit in 2017, up 30.78 percent from Rp 20.69 billion in 2016.

In 2019, the company expects that its bottom line can reach Rp 32.8 billion, with a revenue of Rp 87.4 billion.

As part of its strategy, the company has implemented an account receivable management system to ensure customers pay back their financing. The strategies include making regular contact with debtors, finding out the whereabouts of the debtor and their guarantors and using the legal channel as the last resort for non-performing financing (NPF) resolution.

To further accelerate business growth, the firm also plans to improve its information technology (IT) systems to better support conventional and sharia-compliant financing activities.

At present, Pool Advista Finance ensures that prospective debtors who submit financing requests can get approval within a maximum 14 working days.

“We are sure that with more advanced technological development, we can further shorten the application process,” said Raden Ari Priyadi, Pool Advista Finance finance director.

Pool Advista Finance, listed on the IDX with the ticker code POLA, saw its shares climb by 68.89 percent to Rp 228 per share, from the initial offering price of Rp 135 per share.

Investors responded positively to POLA’s shares, as they were oversubscribed 2.12 times from 800 million total shares offered. POLA is the 51st company to go public this year on the IDX.

It reaped Rp 108 billion from releasing 800 million shares to the public, or equal to 23.92 percent of the total issued and paid up capital.

Half of the proceeds from the IPO, about Rp 54 billion, will be used to invest in the development of its infrastructure. From the figure, 10 percent will be used for investment in IT, office equipment and for reactivating its branch office in Medan, North Sumatra, and opening new branches in Solo in Central Java and Surabaya in East Java. The other 90 percent will be used to acquire a building in South Jakarta.

Meanwhile, another Rp 54 billion from the proceeds will be used as the firm’s working capital to expand the company’s financing business.

Currently, the company has three office branches, located in South Tangerang in Banten, Bandung in West Java, and Medan. It will open new office branches in Surabaya and Solo, considering that there is low-cost housing development in those two cities.

As much as 76.08 percent of Pool Advista Finance’s shares are owned by Pool Advista Indonesia, while the remaining 23.92 percent are owned by the public.