Trading in the stock opened with a minimal rise of 1 per cent above the offering price before dipping to end at Bt4.40.

The company offered 35 million shares to the public with Bt1 par value at Bt5 per share to raise a total of Bt175 million, of which Bt150 million has been used to repay its debts and purchase new machinery, and the remainder reserved as working capital. Kasikorn Securities acted as financial adviser for the IPO.

Multibax manufactures plastic bags exclusively for export.

Company chairman Vorapot Srimahachota said that he was not concerned that the company's share price was trading below the debut price. He added that the company planned to allocate 40 per cent of its 2006 annual net profit in dividend payments to shareholders.

"Multibax's revenues this year are forecast to grow 20 per cent on the back of an increase in the number of customers. However, the growth rate for this year will drop from 60 per cent in 2006 due to a high growth base," he said.

The firm's revenues in 2007 are expected to be around Bt1.65 billion, compared to Bt1.3 billion last year, he said.

Multibax director, Prakit Seksarn said the company planned to expand its customer base in North America and focus more on the Japanese and South Korean markets.

"The value of the plastic bag market in America is Bt25 billion, but our exports only amount to Bt600 million. This means there is great scope to increase our market share," he said.