Singapore Press Holding Annual General Meeting 2016

The cold weather and drizzling rain dampen my mood , forced myself to attend this AGM and was expecting low turn out due to the weather & no Bento set was to be provided as notified by SPH.

To my surprises, the turn out was great though many lamented the lack of food.Surely enough the first question thrown to Chairman Lee was why did SPH could donate 350 thousand for charity , sponser musical event  and ScholarShip award every year but was petty towards Shareholders for a once a year AGM event . Some shareholders even suggested to give NTUC vouchers for lack of food and the whole auditorium burst out into laughter.

Lee's clarified the decision not to provide foods was not monetary issue but instead his intention is to encourages dedicated shareholder to attend the AGM.

With regards to donations & Charity works, he uses a Chinese proverb “取之于社会，用之于社会” to emphasize the importance of being a social responsible Corporate Company & 1 % of the Company net profits will be allocated for this purpose annually.

Magazine Business
Moving to Magazine business, the $28 million impairments was made due to luxury brands advertisers was moving to other advertising platforms such as Online & Mobile advertising & holding back on advertising because the marco economy was not doing well coupled with some countries had stringent measure on luxury goods (taxes on luxury goods n etc).

Dividends
With regards to dividend payout, one shareholder pointed out the billion of SPH reserves could use to pay bumper dividends but Lee's pointed out the dividend policy is to pay within means without weakening the Company balance sheet & reserves can be use for any business opportunities such as the recent up stakes in Chinatown Point is one of the example when the opportunity arises.

He added that by giving bumper dividends in the long run using the reserves is not sustainable & is a short sighted strategy &  today SPH is not built upon current leadership but by previous dedicated leadership with far sighted strategy for long term. He also mentioned to bid for Government land Sales is not cheap & billion was not enough & seek Shareholders understanding on this issue .In my opinion,  this statement reflected the Management desire to participate future government land sales for property business .

Property & Investment
One shareholder sharply pointed out about two thirds of the Company assets is in property & is transforming into property company instead of pure Media company & Lee's admitted it & reiterated the substantial assets in property provide great buffer for declining media business & SPH had diversified its business into events/exhibition , early childhood education & digital business where there is plenty of opportunities.

On SPH investments which generated 4%+ returns ,Lee's emphasized  the returns was achieved during cycles of downturn & the company adopted a conservative stance to preserve capital.

When probed, Lee's  revealed the Return on Assets for SPH Crown Jewel(Paragon) is 6%.Not too shabby in my opinion

Digital business/Other future business
Lee's mentioned some investments in digital business succeed & some fail while most of it's will takes time to nurture although the scale is small but they have the potential to grow big with the scalability to expand overseas in the near future such as Qoo10 & they are also exploring Data Centre business.


Conclusion
SPH is an elephant, though slow but steady in this ever changing dynamic business landscape. With far sighted & conservative management ,I can have a sound sleep by holding this stock, though it lack the fast pacing thrills of penny stocks but it gives me a peace of mind.

*Vested in SPH*