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MySQUAR's AIM debut starts at a premium

Published: 08:31 01 Jul 2015 BST

Myanmar,_tablet_girls
A whole world of communication is opening up for Myanmar’s teens

Shares in the Myanmar-focused social media group MySQUAR (LON:MYSQ) raced to a premium in its early trading on AIM, with shares changing hands at 10.75p.

The company raised £1.67mln listing shares on the junior market at 10p each, giving a market capitalisation on float of £18.5mln.

Myanmar, still known as Burma to many here in the UK, emerged four years ago from half a century of military dictatorship to embrace liberal democracy and the free market.

MySQUAR is offering the youth audience there a mini social revolution with mobile apps such as MyChat and MySocial as well as games.

Communications is the enabler, with US$17bn being poured into the country’s telephony system, and two companies, the Norwegian mobile giant Telenor and Qatari rival Ooredoo, are at the vanguard of change.

This has created the perfect conditions in which to flourish for the country’s first and only social network, which at the last count had 550,000 subscribers, but is aiming for 1.5mln by the year-end.

"MySQUAR's vision is to connect the people of Myanmar after almost 50 years of isolation,” said MySQUAR chief executive Eric Schaer earlier.

“The company sees its mission as inspiring creativity, entertainment and a better standard of living in Myanmar by offering world class consumer technology solutions.

“MySQUAR is now at the forefront of the country's technological revolution and the success of the AIM flotation will send a powerful, positive signal to the country's entrepreneurs and to inward-investors alike."

Its expansion is occurring as the cost of mobile telephony plummets. A SIM card, “hundreds of dollars” three years ago, is now just US$1.50. A cheap imported Chinese smartphone will set you back just US$40.

The penetration rate for handsets is still only little over 30% of Myanmar’s 60mln population, but should hit the magic 100% mark in the next five years.

The unique Cyrillic nature of the Myanmar language isn’t a default Unicode stored in mobiles and therefore has to be installed by technicians in the phone store.

MySQUAR, which is chaired by City spin doctor Piers Pottinger, has been clever by encouraging the techies to upload its app while making the required changes to the handset.

That said, it is easily accessible via Google Play or on the firm’s website.

What it has done is open up a whole world of communication to the nation’s teens, who are every bit as keen to chat as their Western counterparts. They also swap pictures and stickers.

Once critical mass is achieved (and the MySQUAR boss thinks it has already), then there is a significant monetisation opportunity.

Advertising for large multinationals looking to make their mark in this recently liberalised economy is the obvious source of income. As are “in-app purchases” such as games and the aforementioned stickers.

The company also sees great potential for partnering with mobile payment providers in a country where bank accounts are a rarity.

Schaer is confident the money raised from the initial public offering (IPO) will get MySQUAR to break-even in 2018.

MySQUAR targets more users after hitting one million mark in Myanmar

The chief executive of MySQUAR (LON:MYSQ), Eric Schaer, says the Myanmar-focused social media group is aiming for 2 million users in the country next year. Today the company, which listed on AIM in July, told investors it had knocked down a key milestone – it now has over 1 million...

on 22/7/15