ERIC Solis Marketing Limited is looking to raise TT$11 million ($253.88 million) to expand its fleet of office equipment and business lines, in the first initial public offering (IPO) seen in five years in Trinidad & Tobago.

The offer which opened on July 16 will see the company seek to issue 2.75 million shares at TT$4 ($92.32). With an expected net take-in of TT$10.21 million, the company plans to expand its pool of office equipment and machines available for lease, support general working capital requirements, and facilitate the acquisition of new business lines over the next 18 months. The offer is fully underwritten by lead broker NCB Merchant Bank (Trinidad & Tobago) Limited (NCBMB), which means the company will receive its intended funds.

“In summary, SOLIS’s strategic plan hinges on harnessing the resources generated through the IPO to establish a funding pool, reduce reliance on external financing, and strengthen their competitive edge. By targeting key sectors and aligning with industry trends the company is poised to achieve sustained growth, increased profitability, and a dominant position in the multifunction printer market,” the prospectus stated on future prospects.

Solis is a business focused on the selling, rental, and servicing of multifunction printers, photocopiers under managed print solutions, and other business equipment to companies Trinidad. It’s an authorised dealer for several international print manufacturing companies. Solis mainly generates revenue from installing equipment which is either purchased outright or leased to its customers over a fixed period of time. It brings in continuous sales through ink, toner, parts, technical service and maintenance.

Results from this business model have been quite positive, with Solis increasing its 2023 revenue by 37 per cent to TT$28.12 million and with gross profits of TT$10.35 million. With stable cost management it reported profit before tax of TT$2.74 million and net profit of TT$1.83 million — a substantial increase over the TT$193,568 in the prior year.

Solis reported TT$27.55 million in revenue for its 2024 financial year ending April 30, and recorded TT$2.63 million in net profit. Solis’s total assets decreased to TT$23.82 million with current assets of TT$20.98 million, inclusive of TT$275,783 in cash.

With the company now going public, Solis’s management fee paid to Office Authority was reduced from TT$3.3 million to TT$1.5 million. The company will pay dividends equivalent to the difference in reduced management fees going forward, under a dividend policy which includes a 65 per cent dividend payout ratio. Solis is projecting to earn TT$24.98 million in revenue for the 2025 financial year and TT$7.25 million in net profit, with the company having free cash flow of TT$6.98 million.

Solis will also be expanding its product and service offerings which will include digital signage displays plus record management and digitisation software and solutions. This is part of its plan to cater to the needs of businesses in Trinidad and diversify its revenue streams.

If the company is successfully listed on the Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange’s Small & Medium Enterprise (SME) Market, it would benefit from a 100 per cent remission on corporation tax for the first five years and 50 per cent of the normal 30 per cent rate for the remaining five years. This tax benefit is part of the SME Market which was established in 2012 to mirror the Jamaica Stock Exchange Junior Market.

Solis is currently a 100 per cent subsidiary of Star Copy Limited (SCL), a subsidiary of Office Authority Limited. Office Authority ownership is 75.05 per cent controlled by Hance and Angella Persad, and 14.14 per cent by Rishi Baddaloo and the estate of Geoffrey Ferreira. SCL will retain a 67 per cent interest in the company after the IPO. Office Authority is currently doing business with Stationery and Office Supplies Limited (SOS), a Jamaican, publicly listed company.

A total 60.1 per cent of the offer has been reserved for three specific pools. NCBMB has a pool through which it will subscribe to 825,000 shares or 30 per cent of shares on offer; 550,000 shares or 20 per cent of the shares are made available to institutional investors; with the remaining 250,000 shares or 9.1 per cent to be made available to directors and senior officers. Some 1.125 million shares or 40.9 per cent of the shares on offer have been made available to the public.

With the offer fully underwritten, this will make Solis the first SME Market IPO to garner all its desired funds since the first SME listing in November 2018 with CinemaONE Limited. CinemaONE brought in TT$14.4 million, which was less than half of the TT$30.89 million it targeted. Endeavour Holdings Limited, a real estate company, was only able to raise TT$11.06 million, still below the target of TT$18 million. CinemaONE continues to trade below the IPO prices of TT$10 while Endeavour trades slightly above the TT$12.50 listing price.

The board of directors includes Chairman Angella Persad along with Rishi Baddaloo, Mukesh Mahangoo, and independent directors Kristine Thompson and Ezekiel George Gobin.

Interested investors can apply for the offer through the NCB Capital Markets platform (goipo.jncb.com) up to the scheduled closing date of August 9. The minimum number of shares to be applied for is 25 units or TT$100, while increments will only be done in multiples of one unit.