Singapore Press Holdings’ (SPH) page count of total advertisements have plunged 12.7 percent year-on-year in the latest quarter, according to UOB KayHian.
“A decline of this magnitude historically translated to 16-22 percent year-on-year decline in quarterly print revenue,” said Foo Zhi Wei, analyst at UOB KayHian, in a Wednesday note.
“Even with the likelihood of higher advertising in the second half of the financial year from property launches, we reckon this will only contribute to higher advertising revenue for the fourth quarter only, with the rest manifesting in the first half of 2019,” said the brokerage, which trimmed SPH’s 2018-2020 earnings forecasts by 1-2 percent.
UOB KayHian maintained its Sell rating on the Singapore print media company and lowered its target price to S$2.39 from S$2.42.
Shares of SPH ended Thursday at S$2.47, down 0.40 percent.
