Shares of ABS Marine Services, a small and medium enterprise (SME) providing marine management services, made a stellar debut on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) platform for SMEs (NSE SME) on Tuesday. The share price opened at Rs 294, a whopping 100 per cent premium over its issue price of Rs 147.

The strong listing was anticipated by the high Grey Market Premium (GMP) for ABS Marine Services in the lead-up to the IPO. According to investorgain.com, the GMP stood at Rs 115, indicating investor expectations of a 78.23 per cent premium over the issue price.

The ABS Marine Services IPO, which ran from May 10-15, received an overwhelming response from investors. The issue was subscribed a staggering 144 times overall, with the retail portion seeing an impressive 110 times subscription. This strong investor interest is a clear sign of confidence in the company’s future prospects.

IPO funds aimed at growth

The company aimed to raise over Rs 96.29 crore through the issuance of 65.5 lakh new shares. The proceeds will be used for the acquisition of an offshore vessel, funding working capital requirements, and general corporate purposes. This investment is expected to fuel ABS Marine Services’ growth in the marine management sector.

ABS Marine Services started operations with two offshore vessel management and as of December 31, 2023 it had 5 owned vessels comprising of 2 advanced offshore vessels servicing the oil & gas sector and 3 harbour crafts serving the Indian Ports sector. The company has one long term chartered specialised multipurpose offshore vessel serving the oil & gas sector.

In addition, it is carrying out total ship management of 12 vessels on behalf of government, public sector undertakings, private companies and port authorities. It is providing services to many renounced customers with who it enjoys long term relationships.

It is providing crew management services to a further 24 ships comprising oil tankers, gas tankers, bulk carriers, passenger vessels and high-speed crafts.