Singapore Press Holdings’ (SPH) net profit for the three months to May 31 fell 46.4 per cent from the same period a year earlier to reach $52.7 million. For the nine months ended May 31, net profit was down 20.7 per cent to S$237.2 million. The publishing company blamed challenging conditions for its media business as the reason for its impairment.
SPH said that the turnover for its newspaper and magazine business declined 7.6 percent to S$239.5 million, mainly due to an 8.2 percent fall in advertisement revenue and 5.8 per cent decrease in circulation revenue.
The media giant had to write-off worthless goodwill of $28.4 million mainly related to the magazine business. SPH is the parent company of several print media like The Straits Times, Business Times and The New Paper.
Commenting on less than stellar performance, SPH’s chief executive officer Alan Chan said in a statement that the Government controlled media company has embarked on a “comprehensive review of its core media business”.
SPH’s press release is here: http://bit.ly/29JkxSU.