A new-gen boom

MUCH has been said about the flurry of initial public offerings (IPOs) in Malaysia in recent years.

However, not many realise that a relatively new trend is emerging in the local stock exchange – the rise of unconventional, new-generation (new-gen) companies.

These new entrants to Bursa Malaysia are mostly digital-driven players, yet not the usual information technology (IT) or software-related stocks.

This development is much-welcomed as it brings a breath of fresh air for Bursa Malaysia, which is typically associated with traditional sectors like banking, power, oil and gas, semiconductors and industrial products, just to name a few.

The unconventional, new-gen companies not only keep the local stock exchange relevant with market evolution, but also diversify options for investors, especially the younger retail investors.

Some of these companies are Oasis Home Holding Bhd, PEOPLElogy Bhd and Kucingko Bhd.

Oasis Home sells products through TikTok Live and Facebook Live channels.

Having debuted on the ACE Market in May 2025, it is Malaysia’s first listed live-commerce company.

PEOPLElogy was also listed on the ACE market in the same month.

This is the first public-listed people development company in Malaysia that specialises in digital workforce transformation.

Meanwhile, Kucingko became the first local animation production company to be listed on the Malaysian stock exchange. Its IPO was in July 2024.

According to its IPO prospectus, Kucingko’s top five clients are all based in North America, Europe and Australia.

In the financial year of 2023 (FY23), these five customers contributed over 93% of Kucingko’s revenue.

It was reported last year that Kucingko has held Malaysia Digital (MD) status since 2004, and has generated over RM250mil in export revenue.

More companies are expected to join the list of new-gen IPOs, with some already in the process, like Foodie Media Bhd and SBS Nexus Bhd.

Foodie Media is the parent of the famous food blog, KL Foodie, and is linked to 32-year-old TikTok celebrity Lim Pinn Yang.

This company was only established in 2018, yet it has 34 brands across five Asean countries offering digital media solutions for clients.

In a draft prospectus unveiled in June, Foodie Media said it has 44.2 million social media followers.

Interestingly, Bryan Loo Woi Lip, the CEO of Loob Bhd, is also a key shareholder in Foodie Media.

Loob, the parent of popular food and beverage brands TeaLive and Bask Bear, is itself preparing for a listing on the Main market.

Another new-gen company seeking a listing on Bursa Malaysia is SBS Nexus Bhd.

SBS is a branding and marketing solution specialist, whose single-largest customer in 2024 was women fashion wear brand Christy Ng.

This company is involved in, among others, creation of social media content, managing social media marketing and handling digital media advertisements for its clients.

The emergence of these new-gen companies on Bursa Malaysia brings back the memories of the “dot-com era” listings.

In 1997, the government had set up the Mesdaq market (Malaysian Exchange of Securities Dealing and Automated Quotation), modelled after the United States’ Nasdaq, to encourage more IT or digital players to undertake IPOs.

Many IT companies began emerging on the stock exchange but most were small-cap IT services firms such as system integrators, software solution providers and hardware distributors, rather than true-blue digital companies.

The mainstream recognition of digital IPOs only picked up around the 2010s, with a new wave of digital companies.

Similarly, investors may take more time to appreciate the new-gen companies.

For now, these companies are generally smallish in market capitalisation size and trade as penny stocks.

Kucingko and PEOPLElogy have a market cap of below RM100mil.

Oasis Home, which made a profit after tax (Pat) of RM8.1mil in its FY24 ended June 30 is valued at just over RM142mil.

Maybank Investment Bank Research’s (Maybank IB) calculation showed that Oasis Home trades at a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.4 times.

As for Foodie Media, its expected market capitalisation is unclear at this point. The company recorded a Pat of RM7.5mil in its FY24 ended Aug 31.

Many of these new-gen companies have lean operations as they are more talent-centric and are asset-light.

This has helped them enjoy good profit margins for every RM1 they make in revenue.

In the case of Oasis Home, after stripping out the one-off listing expenses, the company reported an adjusted Pat of RM9.4mil in FY25 against a revenue of RM72.4mil. This brings its PAT margin to 13%.

PEOPLElogy, after adjusting for listing expenses, reported a profit in the first six months of FY25 with a Pat margin of 8.6%.

Foodie Media enjoys a much higher margin. In FY22 to FY24, its annual Pat margins have been double-digits, ranging between 31% and 45%.

Growth-wise, the new-gen digital companies are also seeing robust top-line expansions.

In a non-rated report last week, Maybank IB described Oasis Home’s revenue growth in recent years as “exponential”.

“This was mainly spearheaded by a boost in its live commerce segment’s top line to RM41.5mil in FY24 (from RM17.2mil in FY22), a remarkable growth of 141% over just two years.

“In terms of revenue, live streaming was Oasis Home’s largest contributing segment in FY24, representing about 76% of total group revenue, followed by mobile app and website (13% of group revenue).

“As such, live streaming is expected to continue spearheading the group’s fundamental growth in the foreseeable future,” stated the research house.

Similarly, Foodie Media has also shown a strong revenue growth over the past several years.

Between FY22 and FY24, its revenue expanded at a compounded annual growth rate of 32.4%.

The market interest in these unconventional, new-gen companies will likely grow over time, especially with continued earnings growth and more awareness among investors, especially the retail investors.