Malaysia's media sector upgraded

Maybank IB Research raised its call on Malaysia’s media sector to
"neutral" from "underweight" ahead of soccer’s European Cup and the
London Summer Olympics.

“While 1Q12 media sector earnings were dismal, we are cautiously
optimistic going into 2Q12 due to the advertisement
expenditure-friendly UEFA Euro Cup and London Summer Olympics events,”
Maybank said in a note.

Maybank said advertisers are expected to migrate portions of their
advertising and promotion budget from newspapers to television during
the two global sports events.

However, Maybank said the sector faced risks of the government
raising fuel prices, electricity tariffs and implementing good and
services taxes after the country’s general elections, which would hurt
advertisement expenditure.


Malaysia’s Prime Minister Najib Razak is expected to
call elections after the country’s budget announcement in September. --
Reuters