SPH's FY16 net profit down 17.5% to S$265.3m

Singapore

SINGAPORE Press Holdings' (SPH) net profit for fiscal 2016 fell 17.5 per cent to S$265.3 million as revenue from its core media business continued to decline and impairments from the magazine segment cut into the bottom line.

The media and property group, whose publications include The Business Times, stayed mum on recent reports that it could be laying off 5 to 10 per cent of its workforce and merging two daily tabloids - the English-language The New Paper and the bilingual My Paper.

Speaking to reporters at a briefing on Friday, SPH chief executive Alan Chan said that some of the company's plans require regulatory approval, and that the company was not ready to announce any details until that process was complet…