KUALA LUMPUR (July 15): After delivering better-than-expected third-quarter results, Foodie Media (KL:FOODIE) is expected to continue to benefit from the shift from traditional advertising expenditure (adex) to digital adex even amid subdued consumer sentiments.
Maybank Investment Bank said Foodie’s nine month revenue and core earnings beat its expectations, coming in at 81% and 85% of its estimates respectively.
"We remain positive on resilient digital adex demand despite subdued consumer sentiments, given digital marketing’s wider audience reach, and measurable engagement returns," the house said in note on Wednesday.
The performance for the nine months ended May 31, 2026 (9MFY2026), it said, was supported across all segments, with the community revenue leading at 119% growth from a year ago.
"We believe the digital marketing space provides more measurable outcomes and a wider audience reach vs traditional platforms i.e. newspapers".
Maybank IB maintained its 'buy' call on the counter with a target price of 51 sen, implying 17 times 2027 price-earnings multiple.
The house maintained its earnings estimates for Foodie at RM14 million/RM20milion/RM27 million for FY2026/FY2027/FY2028 core net profit respectively.
Citing external research by Providence, the house said Foodie has the largest combined follower base of 44.2 million for food and beverage (F&B) and lifestyle focused digital content in Malaysia, where it focuses on creation, production and publishing on social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram.
It has growing credibility among large corporations’ customers from their FY2022-FY2024 revenue compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 73%/20%.
Domestic digital media adex has also seen significant growth at 11% CAGR from 2022-2024, with an expectancy to grow at a CAGR of 7.4%.
However, Maybank IB noted there is an unexpected downtrend observed in digital adex spending, particularly from agencies and large corporations which could hinder progress.