S'pore press giant to expand to multimedia, property sectors

S'pore press giant to expand to multimedia, property sectors

SINGAPORE (AFP): Singapore Press Holdings Ltd. (SPH) announced
slightly lower profits in the year to August and said it would
step up investments in multimedia fields and property, including
a possible bid with partners for a basic telecommunication
license by 2000.

Net profit for the Southeast Asian media giant was down 1.1
percent to S$307.63 million (US$219.73 million) on a 6.9 percent
increase in turnover to S$891.04 million.

Advertising revenue increased by 6.9 percent while group
trading profit was virtually unchanged at S$377.58 million which
officials attributed to a 50.7 percent increase in newsprint
prices.

SPH Group Chairman Lim Kim San told a news conference that
with newsprint prices now stabilizing, future profits would
depend upon the performance of the Singapore economy, currently
undergoing a slowdown due to the poor showing of the critical
electronics sector.

Lim described the results as "satisfactory" considering the
hike in newsprint prices last year, adding that prices had now
stabilized around US$650 a ton.

He said investment would be stepped in the multimedia sector.

"It is unavoidable. Either we go in or we die," he said,
describing the traditional print business as "close to saturation
point."

Lim said "there was a lot of synergy between the newspapers
and multi-media" but added that he did not expect "substantial
revenue" to pour in from multimedia investments until 2000.

"It is unlikely that we will have any substantial revenue
until the year 2000 (from multi-media investments), he said.

The multimedia investments include an Internet page for SPH
publications and a CD-ROM magazine.

Lim said revenue should come in from the Internet once a "safe
way" of collecting charges for access was developed by the
industry. "I think it should come within three years."

Asked if SPH would join a bidding for up to two new basic
telecommunication licenses to be granted by the government, he
replied: "Well, if we get the right partners."

He said it would cost up to S$1 billion to build a rival
telecommunication network to Singapore Telecommunication Ltd.

The government is expected to award up to two new full
telecommunication licenses by mid-1998 in preparation for the
market's opening by 2000.

SPH already has a 35 percent stake in MobileOne (Asia) Pte.
Ltd., which is investing S$400 million in a cellular telephone
network to begin operations in April, marking the initial
liberalization of the telecommunication market.

Lim said the SPH editorial center near downtown Singapore,
called Times House, could be redeveloped commercially within
three to four years after current operations there are moved to a
separate complex outside the city center.

He said newspapers in the SPH stable, including English,
Chinese, Malay and Tamil publications, posted a 1.7 percent
increase in combined circulation, with the flagship daily Straits
Times accounting for 1 percent.