Woodpeckers Group Sdn Bhd, the holder of the master franchise rights for Spanish frozen yoghurt chain Llao Llao in Malaysia, is eyeing an initial public offering (IPO) in the country as it aims for further expansion.
CEO Tan Kai Young said, “Llao Llao Malaysia is a leader with a 90% market share in the frozen yoghurt business. Woodpeckers Group has a debt ratio of 0.11 times, which shows that our growth is internally funded. We are where we are today thanks to the support of the Malaysian market.”
Tan currently has 88% share in Woodpeckers Group, which it started in 2015, after discovering the potential of Llao Llao while working in Singapore a decade back.
Apart from Llao Llao, Woodpeckers Group also holds the master franchise rights outside of Thailand for ChaTraMue, a popular tea brand owned by Cha Thai International. It also has its own brand Shae.co, selling coconut shakes, and TBC, a casual fine dining restaurant in Kuala Lumpur. Llao Llao however will play a major role in the company’s revenue contributing up to 75% by 2025 while the remaining brands contribute only 25%.
Presently, there are 121 Llao Llao outlets in the country with another 14 slated to open by end-2024. The group also plans to increase the number of ChaTraMue outlets from 21 to 40 this year.
Meanwhile, Woodpeckers is also planning to add 2 new brands to the group, one of which is a scalable chain of restaurants, while the other is a standalone restaurant.
