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Tue, Oct 13, 2020 – 6:50 pm
UPDATED Tue, Oct 13, 2020 – 7:11 pm
SINGAPORE Press Holdings (SPH) on Tuesday posted its first net loss of S $ 83.7 million for the full year ending Aug. 31, a reversal from a net gain of $ 213.2 million a year ago, as Covid -19 “severely disrupted” all business segments.
The company, which publishes The Business Times, was hit by non-cash fair value losses of S $ 232 million, primarily in its shopping centers and specially designed student accommodation (PBSA) assets.
The valuation of its shopping centers was reduced by S $ 196.5 million and that of its PBSA assets was reduced by S $ 31.9 million.
These fair value losses were partially mitigated by S $ 68.5 million received from government plans, including the employment support plan.
Operating income for the year decreased 9.8 percent to S $ 865.7 million, while media advertising revenue fell 31.4 percent.
Operating profit fell 41 percent to $ 110.2 million.
Total costs were 6.8 percent higher, at S $ 844.4 million, in part due to increased operating costs of operating an expanded portfolio of Reit (real estate investment trust) and PBSA, tax rebates to the property transferred to the tenants and reduction costs.
For the full year, the media business contracted 22.8 percent to S $ 445.1 million due to a 32.9 percent decrease in newspaper print advertising revenue. The pre-tax loss for the segment was S $ 11.4 million, compared to a gain of S $ 54.7 million for fiscal year 2019, after considering reduction costs of S $ 16.6 million.
Revenue from the real estate business increased 10.3 percent to S $ 327.2 million, driven by the acquisition of the Westfield Marion shopping center and the Student Castle PBSA portfolio. Loss before tax was S $ 75.8 million, compared to a gain of S $ 263 million in fiscal year 2019, due to fair value losses.
Revenue from the Others segment grew 8.7 percent to S $ 93.3 million, helped by higher sales of personal protective equipment from its senior care business. The segment posted a pre-tax profit of S $ 1.9 million, in part due to the divestment gain of S $ 25.7 million in the Media Center.
SPH CEO Ng Yat Chung in a press release: “All of our major business segments were severely affected by Covid-19. Our media business has been greatly affected by the advertising collapse. However, The 9.4% growth in the circulation figures of the success of our digital news tablet product and a greater number of readers is a bright spot.
“We are intensifying our digitization efforts to transform the news content business in response to the changing demands of our audience. We will continue to take a prudent and disciplined approach to liquidity and capital management to weather the Covid-19 crisis with all of our shareholders”.
A final dividend of Singapore 1 cent per share was declared, up from 5.5 cents last year. SPH had also paid a special 1 cent dividend for fiscal year 2019. The dividend will be paid on December 18. Along with the interim dividend of 1.5 cents, the total dividend payment for fiscal year 20 will be 2.5 cents.
Shares in SPH closed unchanged at S $ 1.05 on Tuesday before the results were released.
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