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Singapore Press Shares Slide to 30-Year Low on First-Ever Loss

Singapore Press Shares Slide to 30-Year Low on First-Ever Loss

Shares of Singapore Press Holdings Ltd. slumped to their lowest level since October 1990 after the company reported its first full-year loss on record.

The stock declined as much as 5.7% as the firm posted a net loss of S$83.7 million ($61.6 million) for the year ended Aug. 31. It’s the company’s first full-year loss, based on data compiled by Bloomberg going back to 1990, and follows net income of $213 million in the previous period. The pandemic “severely disrupted” all business segments, eroding the value of investment properties as well as advertising sales in its media business, Singapore Press said in a statement.

Read: Singapore Press Reports Loss of S$83.7m for FY 2020

Singapore Press Shares Slide to 30-Year Low on First-Ever Loss

“We expect media to continue to be a drag in the immediate term given the weak advertising expenditure outlook, with the property segment driving earnings growth and margins,” DBS Bank Ltd. analysts wrote in a note, lowering the target price on the stock to S$1.09 from S$1.26.

The newspaper-to-real estate firm said in August it has reduced 140 people, or 5% of staff from its media business as the coronavirus pandemic eroded advertising sales. The stock is down more than 50% year-to-date versus a loss of 21% in Singapore’s benchmark Straits Times Index.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.