Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) incurred its first-ever full-year loss of S$83.7 million on Oct. 13, 2020.

This was the first time in its 36-year history ever since it was formed in 1984 that a full-year loss occurred.

The Covid-19 pandemic ravaged the value of its investments.

The loss reversed profits of S$213.2 million for its previous financial year ending Aug. 31, 2019.

The media conglomerate owns newspapers The Straits Times and Lianhe Zaobao.

Media business losses

SPH's media business declined by around 23 per cent, registering a pre-tax loss of S$11.4 million.

This loss wiped out its S$54.7 million profit recorded for the 2019 financial year.

Part of this loss came from retrenchment costs.

SPH recorded S$16.6 million in retrenchment costs that it realised in the 2020 financial year.

SPH carried out its third retrenchment exercise in August 2020 during the pandemic.

About 5 per cent of its staff — or 140 employees — were axed in the third round of layoffs since 2017.

As of Aug. 31, the group had a staff headcount of 3,808 -- 6.8 per cent fewer than the 4,085 in 2019.

Staff costs fell by a mere 1.5 per cent to S$328.4 million from S$333.3 million in 2019.

Advertisement revenue declined by 31.4 per cent, or S$122.5 million, which was attributed to the disruption caused by Covid-19.

With advertisers holding back marketing budgets, government ads were unable to make up the shortfall in consumer goods and property advertising.

One area that did well was circulation.

Ng Yat Chung, SPH chief executive officer, said: “All our major business segments were severely disrupted by Covid-19. Our media business is badly affected by the collapse in advertising."

“However, the 9.4 per cent growth in circulation numbers from the success of our News Tablet digital product and higher readership is a bright spot.”

SPH still profitable

On the bright side, SPH still remained operationally profitable.

It made a S$110.2 million profit, which is a 41 per cent drop from 2019, when it earned S$186.9 million.

Property arm revenue affected

Around S$232 million in fair value losses arose from SPH's investment properties.

Its retail malls saw a reduction of S$196.5 million in the valuation.

SPH owns local retail malls Paragon and The Clementi Mall, Westfield Marion shopping mall in Australia, the Woodleigh Residences condominium.

The group is also an owner-operator of two student accommodation brands in Britain and Germany, which saw a S$31.9 million fall in value.

Its property revenue rose by 10.3 per cent to S$327.2 million in 2020 with the acquisition of Westfield Marion and British PBSA Student Castle.

But the increase in revenue was wiped out by rental waivers amounting to S$33.8 million to Singapore tenants.

SPH’s property segment recorded a net pre-tax S$75.8 million loss.

This was following a pre-tax S$228.6 million fair valuation loss for its investment properties.

Aged care revenue up

SPH also owns businesses in aged care.

They include Orange Valley nursing home in Singapore, and five aged care assets in Japan.

Revenues for its aged care segment grew by 8.7 per cent to S$93.3 million in 2020, due to higher sales of personal protective equipment.

We deliver more stories to you on LinkedIn

Top photo via Google Maps