25-05-2025
Audience Analytics eyes growth in Vietnam, M&A opportunities
[SINGAPORE] Audience Analytics, an organiser of regional business awards and career fairs, is seeking growth in Vietnam with its recent investment in a business partner there, while looking out for merger and acquisition (M&A) opportunities.
On May 15, the company inked a deal to acquire 30 per cent of Snowball, a Vietnam-based management consultancy, for 17.5 billion dong (S$870,000).
Snowball has partnered Audience Analytics to organise business awards since 2018, said the Catalist-listed company's chairman and managing director William Ng.
'It's a natural progression of what has already been a great partnership… We see a lot of potential to grow further in Vietnam,' he said, adding that he shares knowledge and resources with Snowball, while retaining its 'entrepreneurial spirit'.
Snowball is next set to organise a new career fair in June – called the Vietnam Career and Training Fair – as a licensee of Audience Analytics.
The event is modelled after Audience Analytics' signature event, the Malaysia Career and Training Fair, which the company has organised since its founding in 2002.
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Audience Analytics' expansion in Vietnam is in line with its broader pursuit of growth in what Ng dubs the 'CLMV market', comprising Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam.
'These markets are all very young. We see a fast-growing workforce and a lot of opportunities to expand (our) reach there via our existing partnership in Vietnam,' said Ng.
Audience Analytics is also on the lookout for M&A opportunities. The company is sitting on S$21.6 million in cash as at Dec 31, 2024, with S$2.8 million in current liabilities.
'It makes a lot of sense for us to convert some of this cash holding into more revenue and more profit via the M&A route. We are currently in active discussion with a number of potential partners,' he said.
Proxy to business sentiment
Audience Analytics' growth plans come amid challenging economic conditions, with the US' tariff war dampening the growth outlook for South-east Asia.
The company's main revenue driver is its business awards segment, through which it earns participation fees. Its key awards include SME100, HR Asia Best Companies to Work for in Asia, CXP Best Customer Experience Awards, and the Golden Bull Award.
These awards are held in 15 markets across the region, spanning South-east Asia, India, China and South Korea.
Besides exhibitions and awards, Audience Analytics is also a publisher of business-to-business digital and print media.
The company is a 'proxy' to overall business sentiment, noted Ng. 'If businesses do well and they're happy about it, the likelihood of them investing in our products – whether it's the exhibitions, media or business analytics – will be higher,' he said.
He acknowledged that sentiment has been uncertain this year, but with the recent tariff truce between US and China, Ng is more sanguine about the outlook. 'We no longer see the reciprocal tariffs to be a major impediment to our revenue this year.'
He also sees Audience Analytics' geographical breadth as a 'major hedge' against volatility. Ng pointed to how the company fared well in FY2024 despite a 'very difficult' year, thanks to continued growth and cost discipline.
Audience Analytics posted a 28.8 per cent rise in net profit to S$6 million for the year ended Dec 31, 2024. This was on the back of a 6.5 per cent rise in revenue to S$15.6 million. The top-line expansion was driven by the awards segment, where revenue rose 7.7 per cent to S$14.5 million.
'What I found was our real achievement in 2024 was that we managed to reign in the incremental cost, and we delivered a very strong bottom line,' said Ng.
That said, performance was weaker in other segments. Revenue from the exhibitions business was down 6.6 per cent to S$1 million, due to softer demand. The business media and analytics segment's sales fell even more steeply – by 31 per cent – to S$46,165.
Acknowledging that media is a tough business, Ng said that this vertical is 'not just about the money', but also about brand-building.
He cited how the 18-year-old SME Magazine in Malaysia 'is almost a household name'. The company's SME-related awards and events gain more recognition when people associate it with the magazine, Ng said.
Plenty of runway
Despite the market volatility in the past few years, Audience Analytics' share price has risen 31.1 per cent since its 2021 listing. It is also up 10.8 per cent since the start of the year to S$0.295 as at May 23.
Ng is not too concerned about the share price, but hopes to attract investors with a long-term view and reward them.
One sweetener is the company's new dividend policy – it aims to pay out at least 50 per cent of profits as dividends for FY2025 to FY2027.
He is also 'constantly on the lookout for new strategies' to improve liquidity for investors. The company recently issued investors one bonus share for every three ordinary shares, which has made 'the stock a lot more liquid now than a year ago', noted Ng.
Asked how investors should view Audience Analytics, he said: 'This is a young company with plenty of runway, and a company that truly values investors.'
