JAKARTA (Jan 12): Malaysia’s largest golf specialty chain retailer MST Golf Group Bhd has confirmed the opening of five more retail stores in Jakarta by 2024, after opening its first outlet in the Indonesian capital recently.

MST Golf executive director and group chief executive officer (CEO) Ng Yap said the Indonesian market holds a promising outlook for the group, driven by Indonesia's dynamic market sentiment.

“I am very pleased to share that based on the past two weeks’ sales, as well as our staff’s observation and analysis since our soft opening, the result and response have been very positive and encouraging,” Ng said during the launch of MST Golf’s first outlet here on Friday.

The Indonesian store outlets will be managed by PT MST Golf Indonesia, a 51:49 joint venture (JV) between MST Golf and Indonesian-listed PT Sinar Eka Selaras Tbk, also known as Erajaya Active Lifestyle (Eral).

“We are confident in our partner Eral and optimistic that this partnership will yield fruitful outcomes in the future,” he said.

According to Ng, the group used part of the proceeds from its initial public offering, which raised RM129.6 million for the group, for the 17,000 sq ft outlet located at the La Piazza Summarecon Mall Kelapa Gading in Jakarta.

Previously, MST Golf said it will set aside RM53.55 million of its IPO proceeds for expansion into new geographical markets, while the biggest chunk of the proceeds (RM62.76 million) would be used for its expansion in Malaysia and Singapore.

Prior to the JV, MST Golf had been distributing its retail products to resellers in foreign countries — including Japan, South Korea, Thailand and the Philippines — but Indonesia made up the majority of its distributorship revenue.

Apart from Indonesia, MST Golf had previously disclosed its intentions to expand into Thailand and Vietnam to strengthen its presence in Southeast Asia.

Currently, MST Golf has 40 retail stores in Malaysia, eight in Singapore and one in Indonesia with another six in the pipeline.

“We will try to open two stores (in Thailand) as planned, and we are still in discussion with our future JV partners. In fact, I’m going to Bangkok in another month to follow up [on the JV] because it has been in a long discussion,” said Ng.

Barring unforeseen circumstances, Ng said the expansion into Thailand should happen this year.

As for Vietnam, the group is still in preliminary discussions with a few potential JV partners, on its plan to open stores by 2025.

MST Golf shares dipped 1.5 sen or 2.88% to 50.5 sen on Friday (Jan 12), valuing the group at RM414.54 million. The stock has dropped by about 35% since its Main Market debut in July last year.