TLB Co., South Korean printed circuit board (PCB) firm that mainly provides substrates for semiconductors has embarked on the process to go public in the country’s secondary Kosdaq stock market within this year.

TLB has hired as DB Financial Investment Co. as a book runner for its initial public offering (IPO) and aims to join the tech-laden bourse this year, according to investment bank industry sources on Thursday. The company reportedly is getting ready to file for a preliminary IPO review by September.

TLB was founded in 2011 by an engineer from Daeduck Electronics Co, one of Korea’s big three PCB companies along with Samsung Electro-Mechanics Co. and Simmtech Co. The company that focuses semiconductor PCBs unlike its rivals fixated on flexible PCBs has shown rapid and strong growth since its inception, said a market observer. TLB achieved 100 billion won ($84 million) in sales in just about a year in business.

For full 2019, the company registered 10.5 billion won in operating income on sales of 149.1 billion won. Sales were about the same as the previous year but the operating income expanded 2.4 times and net profit tripled to 9.1 billion won. Industry watchers anticipate the company to deliver even stronger results this year.

Market analysts anticipate the company’s enterprise value would be measured based on a price-to-earnings ratio of 20 to 25. The firms that are floated in the market as a reference for TLB’s IPO price are Daeduck Electronics, Interflex Co., and Korea Circuit Co.

A PCB, used to electrically connect electronic components, is the foundational block of most electronic devices. Semiconductor PCBs refer to PCBs used in semiconductor products such as SSD memory chip.

The semiconductor PCB market is estimated to reach 2.85 trillion won this year, up 2.5 percent from the previous year, according to a projection made by the Korea Printed Circuit Association in the beginning of this year.

The outlook for the PCB market remains bright as the global semiconductor and smartphone industries are appearing to be on a recovery path, said a market observer.

By Kang Woo-seok and Cho Jeehyun

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