The company, which used to be popular among shareholders for its generous dividends, announced a final dividend of just one cent, down from 6.5 cents paid in the preceding year.
While the company suffered from weaker operational numbers, the red ink was largely caused by a non-cash fair value charge of $232 million on its properties, as SPH weighed the impact of Covid-19 on its assets.
The valuation of its retail malls was reduced by $196.5 million and the so-called purpose-built students’ accommodation assets reduced by $31.9 million.
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“All our major business segments were severely disrupted by Covid-19. Our Media business is badly affected by the collapse in advertising,” says CEO Ng Yat Chung.
“We are intensifying our digitalisation efforts to transform the news content business in response to evolving demands from our audience. We will continue to take a prudent and disciplined approach to liquidity and capital management to weather the Covid-19 crisis with all our stakeholders,” he adds.
While SPH enjoyed some government wage subsidy, it had to incur retrenchment costs – both of which are one-off in nature.
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Its wage bill for the year was down 1.5% to $328.4 million, as lower bonuses are provided for a smaller headcount of 3,808, down from 4,085 as at end FY19, which is in turn, a dip from FY18’s 4,137.
SPH shares closed Oct 13 unchanged at $1.05. It has halved since the beginning of the year.
