KUALA LUMPUR (July 2): Engineering firm UUE Holdings Bhd (KL:UUE), which surged 175% in its trading debut on Tuesday, has set its sights to actively pursue tenders for electricity projects in Singapore, said its independent non-executive chairman Lee Chye Tee.

Speaking at the company’s listing, Lee said the group is committed to further expanding its services in Singapore due to demand for underground utilities engineering solutions there.

UUE, which specialises in the horizontal directional drilling (HDD) method of laying pipes, saw a steady growth in its Singapore market which contributed about 26% or RM23 million to its revenue for the financial year ended Dec 31, 2023 (FY2023).

Currently, the company is only offering midi rig (medium-sized) of HDD machines in Singapore, but it now intends to explore and expand its offerings to include maxi rig (maximum-sized) machines.

“We want to increase the range of services in Singapore. From HDD, we want to provide a wider range of services — that’s our strategy,” UUE executive director Vincent Wong told a press conference.

UUE currently owns 18 HDD machines — to drill tunnels for the laying of underground pipes — all of which are midi rigs. To expand its capability into providing subsea HDD works, the group plans to acquire a maxi rig HDD machine for RM7 million from the initial public offering’s (IPO) proceeds of RM29.98 million.

“Looking forward, we plan to acquire more machinery to expand our range of underground utilities engineering solutions and the scale of our projects,” Lee said.

Besides Singapore, UUE also plans to expand its operations regionally in peninsular Malaysia, specifically focusing on the states of Terengganu, Kelantan and Pahang by bidding for projects related to telecommunications and electricity supply.

In Malaysia, UUE’s current and past completed underground utility engineering projects are mainly in Johor, Negeri Sembilan, Melaka and Selangor.

At 12.18pm, shares of UUE were 41 sen or 170.83% higher at 65 sen on Tuesday, giving the group a market capitalisation of RM398.4 million.