Publisher of Hong Kong satirical magazine 100Most soars as much as tenfold on market debut after record demand

Hong Kong media firm Most Kwai Chung, which runs popular satirical magazine 100Most and a digital media site tapping into Hong Kong’s youth culture, saw its stock soar as much as tenfold on its trading debut after attracting the most public subscriptions for an IPO in Hong Kong history.

Most Kwai Chung opened at HK$8.40 on Wednesday morning and quickly shot up to HK$11.76, 10 times its IPO price of HK$1.20. It closed at HK$6.38, with 185 million shares having changed hands.

With a current market cap of HK$1.7 billion, the company is more valuable than a slew of established media companies in Hong Kong, including Sing Tao News Corporation, i-Cable Communication, Hong Kong Economic Times Holdings and Next Digital.

“The demand for the stock is largely due to the brand name,” said Alex Wong, director of asset management at Hong Kong-based Ample Capital. “100Most magazine and Most TV are popular among many Hong Kong people.”

Besides, the IPO market in general has been heating up in the past few weeks. Investors may be trying to replicate the success of some previous listings such as eye clinic operator C-Mer and B&S International, which sells popular Taiwan beverage brand Ten Ren Tea, he said.

The two companies’ recent IPOs attracted oversubscriptions of 1,557 times and 2,600 times respectively.

100Most, launched in 2013, describes its style as “snappy and funny” and as reflecting the attitudes of Hong Kong’s young people. In 2015, the company established TV Most, an online video platform that provides sarcastic video takes on daily issues.

The three founders of the company – Roy Tsui, popularly known by the pen name Lam Yat-hei, Iu Kar-ho, dubbed Ah Bu, and Luk Ka-chun, who goes by the pen name Chan Keung – together hold a 67.5 per cent stake in Most Kwai Chung, with each of their stakes worth about HK$380 million after the first day of trade.

“We feel surprised about the market response,” said Ivan Yuen, a spokesman for the company, at the listing ceremony at the Hong Kong exchange on Wednesday. He said even the founders did not anticipate the quick rise of the firm.

In the future, Most Kwai Chung plans to host more commercial events to expand its sources of revenue, it said.

Satirical magazine publisher Most Kwai Chung makes Hong Kong IPO history with retail offer oversubscribed 6,000 times

Most Kwai Chung had said in an exchange filing on Tuesday that retail investors had submitted bids to buy 42.45 billion shares, 6,289 times the number of shares available in the public tranche, the biggest public retail subscription to an IPO since nightclub operator Magnum Entertainment’s 2014 offering, which saw an oversubscription of 3,559 times.

100Most – a satirical weekly that is a hit with Hong Kong’s Occupy generation

Most Kwai Chung, which derives most of its revenues from advertising from digital media platforms, reported a net profit of HK$36.3 million for the financial year ended March 31, 2017, up 62 per cent year on year.

Still, for the eight months to November 2017, net profit decreased 84 per cent from the same period a year earlier to HK$5.2 million, because of a decrease in gross profit and the spending on IPO preparations, the company said.