Lower earnings come as operating revenue dips 5.5%; interim dividend of 7 cents a share.

Singapore Press Holdings(SPH) posted a 15 per cent year‐on‐year fall in net profit to $71.5 million for its fiscal second quarter ended Feb 28, 2013, as operating revenue dipped 5.5 per centto $282.2million. Earnings per share for the quarter were four cents, down from five cents a year earlier. A Bloomberg poll had placed street consensus at 5.5 cents pershare for the quarter.

The media and property group's recurring earnings ‐ defined as profit before investment income and share of net profit of associates and jointly controlled entities ‐ dropped 11.6 per centto $79.6million. Net asset value per share declined to $1.35 per share as at Feb 28, 2013,from$1.39 as at Aug 31, 2012.

SPH declared an interim dividend of seven cents pershare to by paid on May 23. This is equal to the payout for the corresponding period a year ago.

The fall in operating revenue came as the newspaper and magazine business registered a 7.1 per cent slide in revenue to $224.4 million. This was mainly due to a 7.6 per cent fall in advertisement revenue to $168.5 million, especially in the property and transport sectors. Circulation revenue also shrank 4.9 per cent to $47.3million. A mitigating factor was a 3.2 per cent or $6.9 million fall in operating costs.

One bright spot came from the company's property business which saw rental income rising 4.5 per cent to $50.2 million on higher rental rates at the Paragon mall. Income from The Clementi Mall also remained stable.

For the half‐year to February, net profit fell 10.5 per cent to $162.6 million, or 10 cents pershare.

Source: AmFraser