SPH shares drop after reporting profit loss

Posted by Erina Lin on January 13, 2009 at 8:58 PM

Singapore Press Holdings Ltd., the biggest newspaper publisher in Singapore, saw share prices drop after releasing its first-quarter profit figures, Bloomberg reported.

The stock fell 3 percent at S$2.93, the biggest drop since Dec. 11. The Straits Times Index was down 0.8 percent. Its net income declined 35 percent from to S$73 million ($49 million) a year earlier, according to the company after the close of trading Monday.

According to Bloomberg, SPH had a loss of S$33.7 million on its investments during the economic crisis. Its main newspaper publishing business slumped during this quarter as the country's economy experienced its first recession last year since 2002.

"Our initial assumption of positive contribution from its investments has been significantly negated," said Kelly Chia, analyst at OCBC Investment Research, in a report. "SPH's print advert revenue has declined but at a greater magnitude than we had expected."

Chia also revised her rating on SPH from "buy" to "hold." DBS Vickers Securities made the same recommendation in a report Monday, Bloomberg reported.