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.