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https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/former-imda-chairman-to-be-new-sph-media-ceo-from-july-15 APR 08, 2024, 05:45 PM SINGAPORE – SPH Media, which publishes titles including The Straits Times and Chinese daily Lianhe Zaobao, will have a new chief executive from July 15. Mr Chan Yeng Kit, who is permanent secretary for health and the former chairman of the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA), will take over from Ms Teo Lay Lim, who is retiring. In the media group’s announcement on April 8, it said Mr Chan, 59, brings a wealth of experience to his new role from his extensive career in the public sector, the labour movement and the private sector. SPH Media chairman Khaw Boon Wan said: “Yeng Kit is committed to our mission to help inform and unite our people via quality journalism. Against the competitive pressure from social media, he will support the newsrooms to tap digital platforms to reach new audiences and build a sustainable commercial model. “We are grateful to Lay Lim for kick-starting our organisation’s digital transformation. Yeng Kit will build upon the foundations that she has built.” Mr Chan was appointed to SPH Media’s board in March. That month, he stepped down from IMDA’s board after having served on it for nine years. As permanent secretary for health, a role he took on in 2019, he headed the Government’s efforts to develop Covid-19 safe management measures. He was the permanent secretary for defence from 2013 to 2019. The Public Service Division said in a separate statement that Mr Chan, who will be seconded to SPH Media, will be succeeded as permanent secretary for health by Ms Lai Wei Lin, who will relinquish her appointments as permanent secretary for transport development and second permanent secretary for finance on July 1. Mr Chan has also held a range of appointments in the labour movement and private sector. These include management positions in the Public Service Division, National Trades Union Congress and the Suzhou Industrial Township Development. An SPH Media spokesperson said: “Mr Chan Yeng Kit’s wealth of experience and expertise will further benefit the organisation as it navigates the opportunities and challenges of the evolving media landscape.” Ms Teo, 60, is leaving SPH Media after more than two years as its CEO. She took over from interim CEO Patrick Daniel on March 1, 2022. In its announcement, SPH Media said that under Ms Teo’s leadership, the media group made steady progress in areas such as digital integration, customer experience and talent development. During her tenure, it refreshed its digital platforms and mobile applications to adapt to how different audiences consume content, it added. For instance, new features were introduced on SPH Media’s news apps, and the first-ever Tamil Murasu app was launched. A shared video and audio production facility for its newsrooms, Studio+65, was also set up to strengthen the group’s digital media offerings. The SPH Media statement added that Ms Teo’s efforts led to greater data integration and analytics, which provide newsrooms with better visibility on how readers are responding to stories and support decision-making. “Ms Teo has advocated for a culture of putting audiences and subscribers at the centre of what SPH Media does,” said the spokesperson. “This has led to an expansion of options through which our audiences are able to access, consume and experience our content, especially the various digital channels.” Responding to queries from ST, the spokesperson said the controversy over the inflation of circulation numbers uncovered by a March 2022 internal review was not a factor in the leadership change. Among the findings from the review was an overstatement of an average of 49,000 daily copies, or 5 per cent of the total circulation then, of news titles, including ST. Several senior employees left the company in December 2022 following the audit. SPH Media said the leadership change comes as the group requires a different set of experiences and skills for its next stage of transformation, now that its digital foundations are in place to deliver quality storytelling and be the trusted source of news. The spokesperson said Mr Chan has led organisations through challenges posed by digital disruption and behavioural shifts, and is well placed to lead SPH Media “to optimise the outcomes and ensure sustainable growth”. SPH Media was spun off from Singapore Press Holdings in December 2021 as part of a strategic review to enable the media business to focus on quality journalism and invest in strengthening its digital capabilities. Following that, the authorities said in February 2022 that the media group would get government funding of up to $180 million annually over five years to invest in technology and newsroom capabilities, including for the vernacular newsrooms. With public funding, it would be required to provide half-yearly progress updates on how it is meeting key performance indicators, such as reach and engagement of its products.

Senior SPH Media staff taken to task or have left company after review finds issues with circulation data https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/senior-sph-media-staff-taken-to-task-or-have-left-company-after-review-finds-issues-with-circulation-data

I am a little confused, isn't the entire SPH a media company (minus its property and healthcare arm)? So how does this whole restructuring works? And most importantly, in what way will sgcarmart and MCF be affected? @kobayashiGT SPH to restructure media business into not-for-profit entity to support quality journalism SINGAPORE - Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) intends to transfer its media business to a not-for-profit company after concluding a strategic review of its various businesses. The restructuring entails transferring all the media-related businesses including relevant subsidiaries, employees, News Centre and Print Centre along with their respective leaseholds, all related intellectual property and information technology assets to a newly incorporated wholly-owned subsidiary, SPH Media Holdings Pte Ltd ("SPH Media"). Under the restructuring proposal, SPH Media will eventually be transferred to a not-for-profit entity for a nominal sum. This will be a newly formed public company limited by guarantee, or CLG. More information on the CLG will be announced in due course, said SPH in a press statement on Thursday.

Source: https://mustsharenews.com/sph-should-remove-paywall/ SPH Is Still Gatekeeping Media Content With Paywall Even Though It’s An “Essential Public Good” Since 2015, The Straits Times (ST) has had a paywall for many of its articles, and in 2018 introduced ST Premium in light of falling profits. On 15 Oct 2018, Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) reported a 19.7 per cent fall in net profit for the year. However, that was not enough to stop SPH from becoming a non-profit organisation (NGO), named SPH Media Trust (SMT) in 2021. Even though the Government promised S$900 million to SMT over the next five years, ST Premium remains. Currently, a subscription costs S$9.90 a month, or S$24.90/month to read it on a tablet. If the Government is already funding SPH with taxpayers’ money, why do citizens still have to pay for articles under their paywall? When announcing SMT’s funding in February 2022, Minister for Communications and Information Josephine Teo said in Parliament that “preserving local news media remains critical”. She also referred to the local news media as an “essential public good in our multiracial, multi-religious society”. If the Government believes that SMT is an “essential public good”, shouldn’t the content on ST and SPH’s other publications be free? What is a public good if it’s not available to all? Since SMT is now legally an NGO, there’s no longer a need to seek profit. It also received funding to restructure its operations last year. Considering the substantial financial support SMT is receiving, there’s no reason why they should charge readers for access to their content. If anything, their publications should be free, especially for Singaporeans. Ms Teo mentioned in Parliament that, “SPH had invested almost S$50 million annually in technology investments and digital talent”. More money than that is flowing into SMT now. How much does ST Premium make for SMT? And is it still necessary to gatekeep this “essential public good” from readers? Marcus

SPH retrenching 140 employees due to Covid-19 source: https://mothership.sg/2020/08/sph-retrench-140-employees/ Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) held a restructuring exercise on Tuesday, Aug. 18, laying off 140 employees from the Media Solutions Division (MSD) and SPH Magazines. According to SPH, this accounts for about 5 per cent of the group's overall headcount, and will incur retrenchment costs of approximately S$8 million. Covid-19 has significantly impacted advertising revenue SPH's CEO Ng Yat Chung said that subscription and readership of SPH's news titles have "increased since the onset of Covid-19", but the Covid-19 pandemic has also significantly impacted their advertising revenue. "A more integrated approach of producing and selling our content across our various platforms will allow us to deal more efficiently and effectively with the new level of demand we are seeing from our advertisers and audience," said Ng. According to SPH's statement, the group has informed the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), the Creative Media and Publishing Union (CMPU) and National Trades Union Congress on this exercise. Affected staff will receive compensation on terms negotiated and agreed with the union. "CMPU and SPH management jointly reviewed the selection criteria to ensure that the Singaporean Core within the company is safeguarded as far as possible. The union also negotiated for a fair compensation package for affected employees", said CMPU in a media statement. SPH also said that it have been working closely with the union and the Employment and Employability Institute (e2i) to ensure that affected staff will receive the help and support they require during this period. SPH's last retrenchment exercise was in October 2019 This is SPH's third round of retrenchment since 2017. In October 2019, SPH announced that it will retrench 5 per cent of its staff by the end of the year, despite earning a profit of S$213.2 million for the financial year which ended in Aug. 31, 2019. In October 2017, the media group cut 230 jobs, 130 of which were retrenchments. The remaining job reductions resulted from retirement, termination of contracts and roles that were eliminated due to restructuring of work processes. This resulted in a total of 15 per cent of the staff in newsrooms and sales operations being reduced. According to SPH, the company has reviewed its costs, cut back on discretionary spending, and instituted pay cuts for senior management since the start of the Covid-19 crisis. In March this year, SPH announced that its directors, which includes the CEO, and senior management would be taking voluntary pay cuts of 10 per cent and 5 per cent respectively.

SPH Sees $83.7 Million Loss For 1st Time In 2020, Due To Covid-19 & Fall In Advertising source: https://mustsharenews.com/sph-loss-2020/ SPH Loses $83.7 Million In 2020 As Covid-19 & Advertising Impact Heavily Covid-19 has impacted on most industries, media being no exception. Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) is no exception, as they saw a net loss for the first time in their history in 2020, at $83.7 million. Just a year ago, they had a net profit of $213.2 million. They released their full-year financial report for 2020 today (13 Oct), which show losses in property valuation, advertising, and more. However, some properties also saw profits, while they remained profitable operationally. Read on to find out about the dollars and cents of SPH in 2020. Losses in investment values, advertising SPH’s various property investments saw losses during the Covid-19 pandemic, as many of them dealt with retail as well as student accommodation. This includes $196.5 million loss in value for its retail malls, and $31.9 million drop for student accommodation properties in the United Kingdom and Germany. Media also saw losses of $11.4 million before taxes. However, overall revenue saw a loss of 22.8% or $131.7 million. Newspaper advertising revenue continues to fall, this time by $99.1 million or 32.9% from 2019. Also, daily average newspaper digital sales are rising at 52.5%. Among the losses were retrenchment costs of $16.6 million, when 140 employees were let go in Aug. There was also a $122.5 million loss in advertising revenue. Operations see profit despite losses elsewhere Despite the losses elsewhere, operations saw a profit of $110.2 million. This is still a loss in profits from last year though. Also, overall property valuations may have gone down, but they still earned some profits. Profits rose to $327.2 million from acquiring Student Castle student accommodation in the United Kingdom, and Westfield Marion Shopping Centre in Australia. CEO cites advertising, Covid-19 losses SPH CEO Ng Yat Chung pointed to Covid-19 and the “collapse in advertising” as major reasons for the losses. He noted that SPH will keep taking a “prudent and disciplined approach” to liquidity and capital management, so as to survive the Covid-19 storm. That said, there was growth in circulation of 9.4% thanks to their News Tablet digital product, he said. Just 3,808 staff remain as of 31 Aug, compared to 4,085 in 2019. However, there was a mere 1.5% reduction in staff costs. Not an easy time for companies As companies continue to feel the effects of Covid-19, it may well be the time to adapt and find new ways to thrive. SPH has tried this with property, but it suffered heavy losses due to the climate. Media, which is also its primary arm, also had heavy losses, although readership is increasingly digitally. However, its legacy newspaper business will continue to see losses. Hopefully SPH weathers the storm and finds a way to make their losses back.

https://www.onlinecitizenasia.com/2020/09/11/straits-times-removes-homes-video-interview-with-lawyer-anil-balchandani-after-being-called-out-for-not-seeking-consent-for-use-of-video/ Not just the unauthorized use of video without getting permission I didn't know that they actually charge people for using their own videos. Is this an international practice or just uniquely Singapore? SPH wants to run a story on me, using me as the main object of the story. Without me, SPH has nothing to talk and nothing to sell. I want to use the video and I have to pay SPH? Nowadays with home made videos and digital storyboard creation, people can create their own videos, do their own interviews, and placed them in all social media platforms GLOBALLY. What value proposition does SPH has? What is it that SPH can do, that other platforms cannot do? If they can't answer these 2 questions, they are fossilised in this digital age. It sounds like thug bullying to me.

Anyone got insider news?

SPH to buy 5 aged care assets in Japan for 5.26b yen source: https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/sph-to-buy-5-aged-care-assets-in-japan-for-526b-yen SINGAPORE Press Holdings (SPH) will acquire five aged care assets in Japan for a total of 5.26 billion yen (S$65.8 million). Two of its special purpose vehicles have entered into sale and purchase agreements for the acquisition, said the media and property group, which publishes The Business Times, in a bourse filing shortly after midnight on Monday. The deal is part of SPH’s strategy of investing in aged care and healthcare assets, and expanding its business footprint in markets with fast-ageing populations. Three of the properties are in Hokkaido, one is in Nara in the Osaka Metropolitan Region, while the fifth is in Tokyo. With a total capacity of 365 beds, the properties offer seniors independent living services including community-based activities, transport, laundry, meals and care services. SPH said it will disclose further details of the acquisition upon completion of the deal. Ng Yat Chung, chief executive officer (CEO) of SPH, said: “We continue to seek opportunities to expand our aged care business overseas.” “This acquisition is in line with our strategy of growing our recurring income base through the acquisition of cash yielding assets in defensive sectors.” The acquisition is part of SPH’s partnership with Japanese real estate asset manager Bridge C Capital in October 2019 to set up a fund focused on investing in aged care and healthcare assets such as senior housing, nursing homes and medical office buildings in Japan. Asset management fees will be generated as part of the fund, eventually adding to the recurring income stream from the assets, SPH said. The five properties in Japan will continue to be managed by their current operators on long-term master leases averaging 23.4 years. Anthony Tan, deputy CEO of SPH, said the move builds on the group’s acquisition of Singapore nursing home operator Orange Valley in 2017. The aged care industry is set for continued growth in countries with fast-ageing populations like Singapore and Japan, Mr Tan said. The purchase price of 5.26 billion yen will be paid fully in cash and funded through internal and external resources. The deal is expected to complete by March 2020. SPH shares closed flat at S$2.01 on Friday.

Singapore Press Holdings launches second perpetual note this year at 4.25% IPG source: https://secure.fundsupermart.com/fsm/article/view/rcms201742/singapore-press-holdings-launches-second-perpetual-note-this-year-at-4-25-ipg Singapore Press Holdings, a leading media company and property owner, returns to the SGD market with a NC5.5 perpetual note. Singapore Press Holdings Limited (“SPH”) has announced a perpetual note offering at an initial price guidance (“IPG”) of 4.25%. Both the issuer and the perpetual note are not rated by rating agencies. Similar to the SPHSP 4.500% Perpetual Corp (SGD), the terms and conditions of the perp follow those mentioned in SPH’s S$1 billion multicurrency debt issuance program dated 2 May 19. The note’s first call date is 12 May 2025. If the perp is not called on its first call date, the distribution rate would reset (in May 2025 and every five years thereafter) to the sum of the prevailing 5-year SGD swap offer rate (“SOR”), the initial spread, and the step-up margin of 100 basis points (“bps”). We provide our quick view on the issuer’s credit profile and bond pricing. Recent highlights SPH is celebrating its 35th anniversary this year and has grown to be a leading media company in Asia. The group’s flagship newspaper, The Straits Times, recently won five awards at the 2019 Asian Digital Media Awards including best in social media engagement. The awards seek to recognize the best publishers in each region. This year, there were altogether a total of 151 entries from 24 media companies at the Asian edition of the World Digital Media awards. Net profit increased significantly to S$171m in the three months ending 31 Aug 19 (“4QFY19”), from S$36m in 3QFY19. This was largely driven by a fair value gain from its investment properties of S$95m during the quarter. Total revenue, however, declined marginally to S$241m from S$249 in the preceding quarter. The media group recently announced that it will reduce 5% of jobs in its media division as part of its effort to streamline operations. After the restructuring exercise, staff costs will likely decreased from the present level of S$82m in 4QFY19. Recurring income from properties is expected to grow. After adding GBP134m of assets in April, SPH has become one of the leading players in the purpose-built student accommodation sector in the UK. Income from the UK properties would expand if more international students, particularly Chinese students, continue to pursue higher education in the UK. Revenues would also increase if the pound continues to strengthen against the Singapore dollar. In addition, SPH would likely recognize more recurring revenue from its stake in Prime US REIT. In July, SPH invested approximately USD60m for a 7.38% stake in the IPO of Prime US REIT, and shortly thereafter exercised its option to acquire a 20% interest in the manager of the REIT. Operating cash flows also improved during the fiscal fourth quarter. Net cash flow from operating activities (“CFO”) swung from -S$42m in 3QFY19 to positive S$49m in 4QFY19, although CFO remained negative and nearly at the same level of -S$17m in FY19 and FY18. Compared to the previous quarter, CFO improved in 4QFY19 mainly because of the absence of a dividend payment. SPH has a healthy liquidity position. The group’s cash position surged from S$206m in 3QFY19 to S$554m in the latest fiscal quarter. This level of cash and cash equivalents is more than sufficient to cover its short-term debt of S$411m. When measured over current liabilities, SPH’s cash ratio increased from 22% in 3QFY19 to 82% in 4QFY19. The group’s leverage, defined as total debt (including perpetual securities) over trailing twelve month (“TTM”) EBITDA, climbed from 5.0x in TTM 3QFY19 to 5.8x in FY19 (5.4x if we exclude the S$150m SPHSP 4.5% perp). The drop in EBITDA from S$434m in TTM 3QFY19 to S$383m in FY19 contributed to the increase in debt multiple. Furthermore, an increase in non-current bank loans also pushed the gearing ratio higher. In June, Straits Capitol Trust, which was indirectly wholly owned by SPH, entered into a facility agreement with OCBC and Standard Chartered Bank (Singapore) for a GBP205m (S$355m) secured term loan. The loan was secured by mortgages against 20 purpose-built student accommodation properties in the UK, and a corporate guarantee from SPH. Our measure of the group’s interest coverage ability weakened slightly in FY19. Adjusted EBITDA (EBITDA minus capital expenditures) over finance cost dropped from 9.3x in TTM 3QFY19 to 8.3x in FY19. We think this was driven by lower top-line growth that weighed on TTM EBITDA. Bond pricing During 4QFY19, SPH issued a S$150m perpetual note with the first call and reset date on 7 Jun 24. The reset rate is the sum of the prevailing 5-year SGD SOR, the initial spread of 261.2 bps, and the step-up margin of 100bps. The SPHSP 4.500% Perpetual Corp (SGD) was priced on 30 May 19 and issued on 6 Jun 19. The initial price guidance for that perp was 4.75%, which eventually tightened to 4.5%. The note was well received by the market with an order book in excess of S$800m. SPH REIT, the 70%-owned subsidiary of SPH, also issued the SPHRSP 4.100% Perpetual Corp (SGD) in August. The SPH REIT 4.1% perp was priced on 23 Aug 19 at an IPG of 4.30% that tightened to a coupon rate of 4.1%. Demand for the note was also high as the order book reached over S$1.3 billion for the S$300m issue. Unlike the SPH 4.5% perp, SPH REIT’s 4.1% perp does not have an embedded dividend pusher clause, which prohibits the issuer from deferring distributions to bondholders if it had paid dividends during a specified period. The ask yields to call (“YTC”) on the SPH and SPH REIT perps have been falling since their issue dates (see Figure 1). The YTCs of the SPH 4.5% perp and SPH REIT 4.1% perp have dropped to 3.80% and 3.83% respectively as of this writing, with corresponding ask bond prices of 102.90 and 101.12. The drop in yields may be a reflection of the group’s healthy liquidity profile, cost cuts and improvement in operating income. Figure 1: YTC and prices of the SPH and SPH REIT perps Compared to the other SGD perpetual notes of similar first call dates, we think that the new SPHSP perp, at its IPG of 4.25%, is attractively priced among non-bank issuers (see Figure 2). The 4.25% IPG would rank at the higher end among perps of issuers with similar leverage. We have assumed an issue size between S$300m to S$500m for the new SPH perp, for us to calculate the pro forma adjusted debt (including perpetual securities) over asset of SPH post-issuance. The FPLSP 4.980% Perpetual Corp (SGD) of Frasers Property Limited (“FPL”) has an ask YTC of 4.28%. The 46% debt-to-asset ratio of FPL is meaningfully higher than SPH’s 35.6%, assuming the new SPH perp has an issue size of S$500m. On the other hand, FPL has a much larger scale with total assets of S$33.6 billion, versus SPH’s S$7.1 billion. Assuming the final pricing of the new SPH perp doesn’t tighten to less than 4%, we think it provides decent value against the FPLSP 4.98% perp. Figure 2: SGD non-bank perpetuals of similar first call dates Declaration: For specific disclosure, at the time of publication of this report, IFPL (via its connected and associated entities) and the analyst who produced this report hold a NIL position in the abovementioned securities.

SPH to divest stakes in Mediacorp TV and Press while Today newspaper will go fully digital Singapore Press Holdings plans to divest its 20 per cent stake in Mediacorp TV and 40 per cent stake in Mediacorp Press, the publisher of the Today newspaper, for $18 million, the firm said on Friday (Aug 25). The proposed divestment follows Mediacorp’s decision to cease the print edition of Today. http://www.straitstimes.com/business/companies-markets/sph-to-divest-stakes-in-mediacorp-tv-and-press-while-today-newspaper-will http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/today-newspaper-to-cease-print-edition-go-fully-digital-9157872 Hopefully, SGCM and MCF aren't next on the block.

there is something unusual in MCF? The admin and moderator team has been very quiet in the past weeks. - Winner for HTOTM has not been announced (usually within 1st week of the month) - Winner for MWTOTM has also not been announced (we are less than a week away from a new month) - No response with regards to security concerns in MCF and other SPH site - No response to the feedback provided in the newbie and feedback thread - Last but not least, a few requests I have made to MCF's 3 (@pchou @babyblade @kobayashigt) was not attended to... I hope I am just being overly sensitive... Long Life MCF!!!

HI GUYS, I need your help. We are looking for active users of sgCarMart to find out how you use our service. If you are interested in taking part in our user study, please click on the link below and fill up the form. 10 participants will be shortlisted for an interview at SPH News Centre. Those who complete the face-to-face interview will receive a $30 cashcard. If you are keen, please click on this link for more info: http://win.asiaone.com/sgcarmart/

http://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/motoring/should-i-buy-a-new-car-now Everyone's favourite motoring journalist is back with another article. Looks like his COE is ending in 3 weeks, he may be fighting with you guys for a COE on 23 December! Don't know why he complaining about COE prices when he is thinking of buying an Audi Q7 which is going for $300k. And then he debates between a brand new Wish for 10k/year depreciation, or renewing COE for 8k/year depreciation. That's "merely" 20k over 10 years, might as well get a new Wish.

Legit or April Fool joke?

SPH??? "Mr Alan Chan Heng Loon, Chief Executive Officer of Singapore Press Holdings (SPH), will be appointed as the Chairman of the Land Transport Authority of Singapore (LTA) with effect from 1 April 2016. Mr Chan succeeds Mr Michael Lim Choo San, who steps down as Chairman of LTA after 14 years, on 31 March 2016. Under the guidance and support of Mr Lim, LTA has implemented several key rail and bus projects such as the Circle Line (CCL), Jurong East Modification Programme (JEMP), North-South Line Extension (NSLe) and Downtown Line (DTL), and the Bus Service Enhancement Programme (BSEP). These have significantly increased our rail network as well as bus capacity and service levels. The Land Transport Authority would like to extend our appreciation to Mr Lim for his many years of dedicated and distinguished service to the LTA"