The Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) has released their annual report for the financial year (FY) ending August 31, 2018, which highlighted the group's sliding revenue for their print media business.

Steadily declining revenue from core print media

Here are their recorded revenues from SPH's media business from the last six years, with both advertising and circulation revenue in decline.

2018: S$655.8 million

2017: S$725.4 million

2016: S$834.2 million

2015: S$902.5 million

2014: S$931.7 million

2013: S$991.2 million

2012: S$1,031.2 million

For SPH's advertising revenue, it fell from S$769.4 million in FY2012 to S$445.4 million in FY2018.

Slashed operating costs by cutting headcount

Despite the steady drop in revenue from their print Media business, SPH still managed to report an operating profit through lower newsprint costs, depreciating costs, and by cutting headcount.

As of end August 2018, SPH's reported headcount is 4,137.

Profits come from other investments

Ultimately, one of the ways SPH manages to bring in profits for its shareholders by diversifying into other areas, one of their most profitable investments come from the property sector.

SPH (through SPH REIT) owns, or has a stake in a number of shopping malls, such as Paragon, Clementi Mall, and most recently, Chinatown Point, and The Rail Mall.

Separately, SPH also owns Orange Valley, Singapore's largest private nursing home operator. It has also recently acquired portfolio of Purpose-Built Student Accommodation (PBSA) in the United Kingdom, hoping that the acquisition will turn in much needed profits.

Earlier in September, SPH teamed up with Keppel to buy over the rest of the M1 shares. According to SPH CEO Ng Yat Chung, SPH intends to "leverage M1's mobile platform to offer on demand and ready digital content". 

For access to all of SPH's financial reports, you can refer here. For free news without paywalls, you can read Mothership here.

Top image by Joshua Lee.

Content that keeps Mothership.sg going, so we can keep our stories free

? vs ?

You're on the MRT. Do you read or surf?

Why not both??

❌?

Qn: What happens when the struggle of arranging your Carousell meetup is real?

Ans: You literally can't deal.

⛔?

Life's a beach sometimes but these girls really shouldn't be in swimwear...

?

Have a little money but can't help being kinda lazy? You can still invest using this.