Singapore Press Holdings 01 (May 08 - Nov 11)

[winston]

Not vested

RESEARCH ALERT-OCBC cuts SPH to hold, lowers target to S$4.19

SINGAPORE, July 13 (Reuters) - OCBC Investment Research has lowered its rating for publishing and property firm Singapore Press Holdings to 'hold' from 'buy' and cut its target price to S$4.19 from S$4.32.

STATEMENT: OCBC said SPH's third quarter earnings were boosted by investment income. However its advertising revenues declined year-on-year due to weaker sales from display and classified advertisements.

The brokerage also noted that this was SPH's first year-on-year decline in advertising revenues over the last five quarters and has cut its estimates to reflect lower-than-expected advertising sales.

"Nevertheless, we believe price downside is limited at this juncture due to an attractive dividend yield estimated at 6.9 percent and the potential for accretive retail mall acquisitions in fiscal 2011-2012," said OCBC in a report.

Shares of SPH have fallen about 1.8 percent since the start of the year to close at S$3.91 on Tuesday.

Source: Reuters

[winston]

not vested

RESEARCH ALERT-OCBC cuts SPH target price to S$3.99

SINGAPORE, Oct 13 (Reuters) - OCBC Investment Research has cut its target price for Singapore Press Holdings Ltd (SPH) , which has a near monopoly on newspaper publishing in the city-state, to S$3.99 from S$4.19 and kept its hold rating.

STATEMENT: SPH, which also owns some commercial properties, reported a 27.6 percent increase in its fourth quarter net profit to S$96.1 million, but this was below OCBC's forecast because of an unexpected rise in operating expenses from a new shopping mall in Singapore.

OCBC has cut its net profit estimates for SPH in fiscal 2012 by 15 percent to S$372.9 million, as it expects weaker classified and display advertising earnings.

"With a 6.3 percent dividend yield, we believe that the downside for SPH is limited at this juncture. We expect earnings to face headwinds in fiscal 2012 as advertising revenues decline in a slowing economy with support from mall rental income," said OCBC in a report.

At 0101 GMT, shares of SPH were 0.26 percent lower at S$3.77, and have fallen 5.3 percent since the start of the year.

Source: Reuters

[winston]

not vested

Singapore Press Holdings Ltd , which has a near monopoly on newspaper publishing, may be in focus after it posted on Wednesday a 22 percent drop in full-year net profit to S$388.6 million ($304.7 million), due to an absence of earnings from property development. It said the outlook was uncertain.

source: Reuters

[iam802]

When was the last time you heard the 'Garang Guni' shouting for 'newspaper'.

I think they have move up the chain to 'precious metals as' well.

==

SPH sues Yahoo! – a first here for old media versus new media?

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/sph-sues-yahoo ... edia-.html

Singapore is set to see a rare face-off between old and new media, after news emerged yesterday that Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) had sued Yahoo!, claiming that the digital media company had reproduced 23 of its articles without permission from November 2010 to October 2011.

Yahoo! has since denied the claims, with managing editor for Southeast Asia Alan Soon saying yesterday that the company intends to “vigorously” defend itself and that its editorial business model is proven.

...



Readership in SPH newspapers has been falling for the past two years, and even if this is not as bad as what is happening to counterparts in the the United States, the slight decline is set against a fast-increasing population in Singapore that includes the import of skilled, literate migrants to the country in the past 10 years (read SPH’s 2011 annual report here).

As media consultant and former newspaper editor P N Balji put it in a Yahoo! news story, the drop in readership, if not arrested, could impact advertising revenues for SPH.

To be sure, there is nothing illegal about reporting on what is already in the newspapers. Indeed, if you follow the news on most online sites today, you’d see that the reputable ones often do cite their sources, especially when it comes to news articles that originate from other news outlets.

The question now is in the 23 articles that SPH alleges that Yahoo! had “reproduced substantially” without permission. The Singapore publisher is asking the High Court to stop Yahoo! from further reproducing its articles and pay damages for infringement.

While the case is ongoing, it would not be fair to comment on the claims. But when it goes to court, this could be one of the first such cases of old versus new media, and possibly a landmark one for years to come.

[john_ric]

SPH not = print newspaper only nowadays.

SPH = print media + Media corp 20% + M1 20% + new media and multimedia + property

So this is still a counter owrth long term inv esting.

[kennynah]

sph = 5 million population market in singapore