Singapore Press Holdings' (SPH) media business continues to suffer from lower newspaper print advertisement revenue as a result of Covid-19 disruptions for the first quarter ended Nov 30 last year.

The company's purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) and aged care segments, however, remain resilient, it said yesterday.

The media and property group said in a business update that print advertisement revenue declined 36 per cent from the year-ago period. The 45.6 per cent year-on-year growth in digital circulation revenue was partially offset by an 8.1 per cent decline in digital advertisement revenue.

Still, print advertising remains an important channel for a core group of advertisers to engage their audience, SPH said. The group will therefore continue to "provide innovative solutions" to meet the needs of its advertisers.

Its overall year-to-date circulation was up 1.8 per cent from a year ago, with digital circulation growing 26.5 per cent, largely due to a huge boost from 31,000 subscriptions for news tablets across all the major newspaper titles.

On the PBSA front, SPH said it has achieved 88 per cent of its target revenue for the 2020/2021 academic year as at Jan 8 this year. This comes as higher education courses commenced this month.

Bookings have also begun for the 2021/2022 academic year, with 17 per cent of its target revenue achieved as at Jan 8 this year.

The company is also tapping its network of more than 28 agents globally to reach out to international students in key markets such as China, India and Cyprus.

In addition, its internal development team has successfully delivered the Student Castle PBSA in Oxford with 515 beds and in Brighton with 206 beds.

SPH has also taken over the management of five PBSA assets in the first quarter ended Nov 30 last year, bringing the number of assets managed in-house to 13 out of a total of 28.

The remaining assets will be taken over progressively this year and the process is expected to be completed by Oct 1. Upon completion, all bookings will be managed under the group's property management system.

The group also said it will continue to ramp up efforts to protect residents from Covid-19 through virus safety measures such as increasing cleaning of all facilities and furniture.

The group's aged care business in Singapore and Japan has seen stable performance. Overall, the bed occupancy rate at its Orange Valley assets in Singapore stood at 81 per cent as at last November.

Its assets in Japan have an underlying portfolio occupancy in the high 90s, and the lessees of all five assets continued to pay rent on time, SPH said.

The company added that it will continue to review a strong pipeline of acquisition targets in a prudent and disciplined approach to develop aged care as an emerging segment post-pandemic.

As at Nov 30 last year, SPH had $3 billion in debt. Its weighted average debt to maturity stood at 3.5 years, with a cash balance of $898 million.

SPH is currently refinancing Seletar Mall's $300 million term loan through an extension of the existing loan.

THE BUSINESS TIMES