Singapore Press Holdings 01 (May 08 - Nov 11)

[winston]

Singapore Hot Stocks-SPH up on newspaper price hike

SINGAPORE, Sept 29 (Reuters) - Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) rose as much as 2 percent on Monday after saying it will increase the price of many of its newspapers from Oct 1.

The hike will help SPH boost circulation revenue by about 9 percent, or S$20 million ($14.02 million) in the fiscal year beginning Sept 1, Macquarie analyst Valerie Law told Reuters.

"It's more than enough to cover the increase in newsprint cost for the year," she said.

SPH, which holds a near monopoly of newspaper publishing in Singapore, said it will raise the cover price of its flagship Straits Times newspaper, its three Chinese-language dailies and the Business Times to cover the increased cost of newsprint.

[ID:nSIN370163] At 0242 GMT, SPH was up 1.3 percent at S$3.97.

[helios]

with further elaborations ...


30-Sept - Singapore - With newsprint and production costs soaring, Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) has announced a price hike for some of its newspapers, marking the first readjustment in the past five years.

While SPH continues to absorb the goods and services tax, it will raise prices of The Straits Times and The Sunday Times, currently at 70 cents and 80 cents respectively, by 10 cents for the Sunday to Friday editions and by 20 cents for the Saturday edition. The changes are effective from 1 October.

SPH had not returned calls, on how its advertising revenue had fared in the past few months, by the time of writing.

Alan Chan, CEO of SPH, said in a statement "this is only the third price revision in 23 years for our print products".

"We have tried to contain costs, but newspaper production expenses have gone up steeply, in particular the US dollar price of newsprint has almost doubled since 2004. The impact has been considerable, as evident in newspaper publishers around the world also increasing their cover prices, some as early as last year," he said.

Others SPH newspapers to have seen a hike include Chinese daily Lianhe Zaobao up by 5 cents, Saturday edition of Berita Harian and the group's Malay daily by 10 cents.

Those untouched are The New Paper and Tamil Murasu, bilingual product ‘mypaper', group's suite of new online products - such as zaobao.com, omy, STOMP, ST RazorTV and ST Breaking News.

Source: Marketing-Interactive.com

[helios]

competitive landscape for women's needs ...


30-Sept - Singapore – SPH Magazines is launching a new watch-themed title targeted at affluent women.

24:7 is an English-language magazine aimed at fashion-conscious women who are “watch enthusiasts”, and will cover news, trends, design and technology in the watch market.

“SPH Magazines has a strong understanding of the watch industry, having successfully launched and successfully occupied the market with Icon Moments, Nuyou Time, and The Peak Selections Timepieces,” Loh Yew Seng, CEO of SPH Magazines, said.

“24:7's targeted and effective distribution channels will also ensure accessibility to the desired audience.”

The magazine will have a readership of 20,000. It will be published once a year. 24:7 will be sold at a cover price of $8 at newsstands and also be distributed in bookstores, hotels and country clubs.

SPH Magazines is holding a media event on 3 October to officially launch 24:7.

Source: Marketing-Interactive.com

[iam802]

Corporate Result on Oct 10

[helios]

Singapore - Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) is launching a new free English weekly newspaper - Tabla - which will will be published by the Tamil daily Tamil Masaru.

Tabla will be available on Friday afternoons at selected locations like offices, banks, business associations and airport lounges. The editorial content includes analysis and commentary pieces, a weekly round-up of news from the Indian sub-continent and Singapore, entertainment features and sports coverage.

Excerpt Source: Marketing-Interactive.com
Date: 03-Oct'08

[iam802]

DIVESTMENT OF 80% STAKE IN MI PUBLISHING (HK) CO LIMITED

http://info.sgx.com/webcoranncatth.nsf/ ... penelement

Singapore Press Holdings Ltd (the “Company”) wishes to announce that its indirect wholly-owned subsidiary, Magazines Incorporated Pte Ltd ("Magazines Inc"), will be divesting 80% of its entire stake in the capital of MI Publishing (HK) Co Ltd (“MIHK”) to Sing Tao Holdings (BVI) Limited (“Sing Tao Holdings”).

Magazines Inc is a wholly-owned subsidiary of SPH Magazines Pte Ltd.

The 80% stake in the capital of MIHK will be sold and transferred pursuant to a Sale & Purchase Agreement executed between Sing Tao Holdings and Magazines Inc on 3 October 2008. The consideration will be 80% of the Net Asset Value of the entire share capital and will be determined in the completion accounts to be finalized on or around 15 November 2008. The transaction is on a “willing buyer and willing seller” basis. A further announcement will be made at the completion of the transaction.

The shares will be transferred upon the fulfilment of certain conditions under the Sale & Purchase Agreement, and thereafter, MIHK shall no longer be a subsidiary of the Company but will remain an associate of the Company.

After the completion of the transaction, MIHK will continue to publish The Peak Hong Kong under a publishing licence arrangement with SPH Magazines Pte Ltd.

The divestment is not expected to have any material impact on the earnings and net tangible assets per share of SPH for the financial year ending 31 August 2009.

Mr Alan Chan Heng Loon, a director of SPH is also a director of SPH Magazines Pte Ltd. Other than as disclosed herein, none of the directors of SPH has any interest, direct or indirect, in this transaction.

Dated : 6 October 2008

[kennynah]

i can tell u for a fact that this fella is a useless salary man...i worked for him before...smart in the brain and smarter to know he wont make it further than where he is now...his sister was more promising...but oso like dat....every one knows..at the end of the day...it's just making a living...

and that....my friends....is your likes of fallen colombo plan and president scholars...

[helios]

as published by brother802 earlier ...

Hong Kong - Sing Tao Holdings has bought an 80% stake in Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) Magazines, which will see the Hong Kong media company acquire a substantial stake in luxury lifestyle magazine The Peak Hong Kong.

Ivan Tong, editor-in-chief for The Standard declined to comment on the price tag attached to the SPH Magazines acquisition.

However, he said that Sing Tao's business ranges from newspapers to magazine titles such as Sing Tao, Headline Daily, EastWeek, Jet and East Touch where most of them are in Chinese with the exception of The Standard, adding that there is room to expand in the high-end lifestyle English magazine market.

"There is a lot of growth potential in the high end English lifestyle magazine in Hong Kong in terms of content and ad revenue for the group," Tong added.

Sing Tao Holdings will buy 80% of its stake in SPH Magazines through its wholly owned indirect subsidiary Magazines Incorporated.

According to a statement, the consideration will be 80% of the net asset value of the entire share capital and will be determined in the completion accounts to be finalised on or around 15 November.

After completion of the transaction, MIHK will continue to publish The Peak Hong Kong under a publishing licence arrangement with SPH Magazines.

Source: Marketing-Interactive.com

[helios]

Singapore - Singapore Press Holdings has recorded a recurring profit of S$501.7 million for the 2007/08 financial year, a 17.5% increase over last year's figures.

SPH held a press conference this afternoon where CEO Alan Chan attributed the hike to better performances from its print media business, as well as a higher contribution from its property investment arms through the sales of Sky@eleven units, which has since sold out.

Group operations revenue rose to 12.1% which amounts to a record high of S$1301.0 million. Despite the economic downturn, the revenues of its newspapers and magazine segments grew by 5.7% to hit S$1014.3 million, underpinned by a 7.6% growth in print advertising revenue to S$780.1 million.

Amidst the deepening financial crisis, investment income for the group fell by 67.3% to hit 47.7 million. However the crisis did help in SPH's bid to acquiring new business as it is comparatively cheaper, like the process of acquiring Shareinvestor.com. This move is a deliberate part of its expansion plans into setting up an online financial information provider.

Chan said despite the global financial turmoil "the fundamental's of SPH's business remain strong".

The Group took an impairment charge of $26.7 million to write down the carrying amount of its investments in associates, mainly TOM Outdoor Media Group, to its estimated recoverable amount.

Source: Marketing-Interactive.com
Date: 10-Oct.'08

[learn2win]

Today our ST published the ultimate book of survival for the coming recession. Our lone media has been coordinating very well in advocating the consumption of frozen meat as well as the conservation of electricity for the past few months.

When the going gets tough, the tough gets going.