Singapore Press Holdings 01 (May 08 - Nov 11)

[kennynah]

support gone....sold on high volume... what else can we conclude about this big fish in a small pond? it's drought season and this fish is starving of oxygen.... that's my TA view...certainly not any incitement to buy or sell.... ka ki ku ka ki (to take care of oneself)

[LenaHuat]

Reputable US dailies hve filed for bankruptcy and now SPH is waking up to the realities :

SINGAPORE - Asian media giant Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) said on Thursday it will cut monthly staff salaries by between 2 and 10 per cent to reduce costs as revenues fall.

The salary cuts, which will take effect next month, and lower profit-related bonuses will enable the company to trim its wage bill by 20 per cent, SPH said in a statement.

The wage cuts will affect about 3,000 staff, with higher paid employees bearing the brunt of the reductions, it said. SPH added that it would freeze hiring and cut operating expenses, without giving details.

[winston]

From OCBC:-

Singapore Press Holdings: Attractive valuation; upgrade to BUY.

Falling revenue… Our checks in the industry have indicated that Singapore Press Holding's (SPH) print advertising took a heavy hit in Nov/ Dec period despite the last ditch advertising efforts by retailers to bring the year end to a less dismal sales closing. The lack of major events in Singapore in the first two months along with the dismal job market in the private sector did not help. As such, we expect adex and classified revenues to be negatively impacted. We initially expected print revenue to register a 3.6% YoY fall for FY09F but now knock it down to a 6.7% YoY drop to factor in the cratering economy. Circulation numbers should remain flattish for FY09 as we do not expect heavy subscription cancellations.

…But controlling costs. As shown from its historical operating data, SPH has three consecutive quarters of falling newsprint consumption while charge out prices (Exhibit 2 & 3) have been going up. With the volumous usage for the US presidential elections over, charge prices have thankfully started to tail off since the start of the year.

Unfortunately, as SPH historically buys its raw materials on a 6 months forward basis, we are expecting high newsprint costs from Jan - Jun 2009. On the staffing front, SPH's forge into
new media businesses have been moderated by aggressive wage cuts announced yesterday.

Mark-To-Market losses might continue. We believe that SPH has not changed its equity and bond portfolios with its external fund managers since the last quarter. With the volatile equity and bond market, our initial assumptions of a return to a positive accretion from its investments are likely invalid in view of potential MTM losses overwhelming dividend income that it will receive from its investments.

Silver lining: Paragon and Sky@Eleven. Thankfully, SPH's two property plays keep its head above water against a drowning property market. Paragon continues to sustain almost full occupancy even after its S$45m upgrade to add 29,000 sqft of space and Sky@Eleven's progressive contribution will buffer its earnings.
Attractive valuation. SPH fell 23% since the downgrade in our last report.

While we have lowered our SOTP fair value to S$2.84 (prev: S$3.13) as we align its valuation peg with its peers, we are upgrading SPH to BUY based on attractive valuations with dividend yield at ~9%. We are also impressed by the swift action taken to contain staffing cost, its highest expense component.(Kelly Chia)

[bertyeo]

support gone....sold on high volume... what else can we conclude about this big fish in a small pond? it's drought season and this fish is starving of oxygen.... that's my TA view...certainly not any incitement to buy or sell.... ka ki ku ka ki (to take care of oneself)

depends on how u use ta to view on it..hehe
u must look at it from diff angle

[millionairemind]

Singapore Press Holdings
Hold
Deutsche Bank
March 19
March 20
close: $2.42

THE Nielsen Company ('Nielsen') has released its estimates for February 2009 Singapore advertising expenditures (adex).

Total estimated February market adex fell 16.2 per cent year on year (y-o-y) to $128 million, the fastest y-o-y rate of decline in five years and the lowest total adex level since February 2006. However, the newspaper sector performed better than in recent months with the $55 million February newspaper adex just one per cent less than in 2008. However, this y-o-y comparison is slightly distorted by the fact that whereas the 2009 Lunar New Year was in January, in 2008 it was in February (so February 2008 adex was significantly less than the preceding or succeeding months).

Nevertheless, the long-term adex trend is clearly downwards, reflecting recent economic trends. For example, cumulative estimated print adex over the last three months was approximately $205 million, 13 per cent less than in the same period in 2008. Nielsen estimates imply SPH's advertising revenues trending as expected

Based on this data, we estimate SPH booked approximately $150 million advertising revenues during the December 2008 to February 2009 quarter, an approximately 16 per cent decline y-o-y. We therefore expect SPH to have achieved approximately $340 million in H1'09 advertising revenues, 11 per cent lower than in H1'08 and representing 49 per cent DB09e. We maintain our forecast that SPH's FY09e advertising revenues will fall 12 per cent y-o-y especially as these Nielsen estimates suggest that SPH's advertising performance is trending generally as projected.

Clearly advertising revenues are correlated with economic activity and a further deterioration in Singapore's economy could be punitive - an issue to watch closely. But at this stage, advertising appears to be trending in-line with our forecasts and we maintain our estimates and HOLD rating.

[winston]

RESEARCH ALERT-UBS upgrades Singapore Press to buy

SINGAPORE, March 26 (Reuters) - UBS raised Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) to "buy" from "neutral" after share prices underperformed the local market due to concerns of a possibility for lower dividend from the company.

"We think a significant cut is unlikely for SPH as it has no large capex requirements and its net debt to equity ratio is only 14 percent," UBS analyst Jaj Singh said in a research note.

[winston]

SINGAPORE PRESS HOLDINGS - CLSA upgraded Singapore Press Holdings to "outperform" from "underperform" on Tuesday, citing the firm's strong net balance sheet and lower costs of newsprint this year.

[helios]

04-Apr - Singapore - Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) is merging First magazine, its monthly movie magazine, into The New Paper where it will become a weekly pull-out section each Thursday.

The new section will feature from 7 May and cover all things related to movies, with reviews, artwork, red carpet fashion spreads and feature articles. The new weekly will have a new look and revitalised content in a newsier platform.

Source: Marketing-Interactive.com

[helios]

Singapore - Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) is calling for entries from agencies and advertisers to submit their print ads for this year's Ink Awards.

The awards honour the best in print ads that have featured in SPH's 17 newspaper titles and the people in the ad industry behind them. There are six categories in the Ink Awards, which are broken into individual, campaign, Chinese campaign, recruitment, creative media buy and integrated campaign.

To be eligible for the awards entries must have appeared during the period of 1 June 2008 to 31 May 2009. The submission deadline is 31 May 2009, and the winners will be announced in July.

Source: Marketing-Interactive.com

[millionairemind]

Published July 14, 2009

SPH Q3 profit dips 5% to $126.7m

MEDIA group Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) yesterday said net profit for the quarter to May 31 fell 5 per cent to $126.7 million from $133.4 million a year ago.

Revenue from its core newspaper and magazine division fell 17.4 per cent to $222 million from $268.9 million a year ago, as print ad sales fell 23.3 per cent to $159.5 million, led by the fall in recruitment and display advertisements. Earnings per share remained flat at eight cents.

However, SPH's property division reported 40 per cent higher sales, or $94.4 million against $67.3 million.

SPH said staff costs fell 18.9 per cent as a result of pay cuts instituted in April and a decrease in bonuses, as well as a $3.4 million grant under the government's Jobs Credit scheme.

Headcount rose slightly to 3,971 as at end-May, from 3,874 a year ago. Total operating expenses fell by $12.8 million or 6 per cent to $199.9 million.

For the first nine months of the year, net profit fell 16.9 per cent to $286.8 million from $344.9 million.

Sales were largely flat at $963.7 million but operating revenue from its newspapers and magazines was down almost 12 per cent to $675.9 million.

For the nine-month period, SPH lost $16.2 million on the value of its investments, due mainly to a $30.6 million loss in the value of its externally managed funds, which was offset by dividend and interest income.

SPH said performance of its investment portfolio will continue to be affected by financial market volatility and that it will continue to be conservative in allocating assets.

Of the roughly $900 million in its group investible fund, 44.4 per cent is in cash and deposits, with 28.7 per cent in equities and 14.2 per cent in bonds. Just under 13 per cent were placed in investment funds.

SPH said advertising revenue was expected to move in tandem with the performance of the economy.

Chief executive officer Alan Chan said: 'Despite early signs that the decline in global demand is levelling out, the timing and extent of the economic recovery remain unclear. The threat of the Influenza A (H1N1) pandemic further clouds visibility on business conditions.'

SPH said that newsprint charge-out rates should remain high for the rest of the year with some moderation expected in FY 2010.

For the first nine months in FY 2009, newsprint costs jumped 18.7 per cent to $101.3 million from $85.3 million a year ago.

For its property segment - Paragon shopping mall along Orchard Road and the Sky@eleven residential project - 'profits . . . are expected to contribute significantly to the group's recurring earnings', SPH said.

'Paragon provides a stable, recurrent income stream (while) the group will continue to progressively recognise profit from Sky@eleven, which is on track to obtain (its Temporary Occupation Permit) in FY 2010.'

Mr Chan said: 'As trading conditions are expected to remain uncertain, we will continue to be vigilant in managing our costs, growing our revenue and maintaining a strong balance sheet.'