STAR and NST are RM1.20 from Jan 1

[jeffooi]

About time you read news online?


THE STAR
Friday, December 27, 2002

<font size="+1">The Star is RM1.20 from Jan 1</font>

KUALA LUMPUR: New Straits Times and The Star will be sold at RM1.20 from Jan 1, 2003.

The new price will also apply to the Sunday editions of both newspapers.

In a joint statement, New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd and Star Publications (M) Bhd said the price increase would bring their cover price in line with the main Bahasa Malaysia and Chinese papers in the peninsula which raised their cover price in November 1998 and January 1999 respectively.

At RM1.20, the two English dailies are still among the lowest priced in the world.

Their last price increase was in 1996, and since then high cost increases including foreign exchange differences in 1998 have been absorbed by the papers’ publishers.

The price of the papers in Sabah and Sarawak will be revised to RM1.80.


SOURCE:
http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2002/12/27/nation/ukprice&sec=nation

[satish]

Don't agree "costs have gone up".

How come The Sun is given away free at 7 Eleven?
They cover their costs by adverts only.

Everyone jumping on the "Price Increase"
bandwagon..

[joker2107]

the star is now a public oc. it is making good money. r they trying to make sure the counter is well posiitoned in terms of market cap? a 20sen hike is a 20% inflation.

and to think of all the coverage and spicing they gave when roti channai sellers wanted to raise their prices by 10sen many years ago.

[Roy883]

20% increase.... mmmm.... Well, let the consumers/readers decide if their dailies is worth such a hike in price. Sure hope for their sake, that their circulation numbers does not drop by 20%.

[jeffooi]

zoomfinance.com
27-Dec-2002 10:38:00

STOCKWATCH -
STAR/NEW STRAITS TIMES HIGHER AFTER PLANNED 0.20 COVER PRICE RISE
by AFX News - Asia,

KUALA LUMPUR (AFX-ASIA) - Star Publication Bhd and The New Straits Times Press Bhd were higher after they announced plans to raise their respective cover prices by 0.20 rgt, with effect from Jan 1, dealers said.

An institutional dealer said some investors are buying the two stocks because they feel that a 0.20 rgt price increase will enhance the respective companies' bottom lines.

At 10.26 am, Star was up 0.15 rgt at 5.65 on volume of 17,000 shares, while New Straits Times was up 0.04 rgt at 3.84 on 43,000 shares.

The KLSE Composite index eased 3.32 points to 644.75.

An analyst with a local brokerage, however, sees both Star and New Straits Times as unexciting stocks despite the positive impact of the price revision.

"The higher cover price will boost revenue, which will flow straight down to pretax profit, for both Star and New Straits Times, but the resulting impact is unexciting," he said.

He estimates that the 0.20 rgt rise will translate into an incremental annual revenue of 18.4 mln for Star and 9.6 mln rgt for the News Straits Times, with neglible impact on earnings.

This is based on a daily circulation figure of 317,000 for The Star and 331,000 for Sunday Star as well as 162,000 for the New Straits Times and 188, 000 for the New Sunday Times, and after adjusting for 20 pct of cover price distribution commissions to wholesalers/retailers, he said.

The analyst said he is reccommending a 'hold' on both stocks as "we expect operating environment for the media sector to remain tough amid an uncertain economic outlook in the near term.

He noted at current levels, Star is trading on a revised prospective
price-earnings ratio (PER) of 12.8 times and New Straits Times, 15.8 times.

leefun.chew@afxnews.com


SOURCE:
http://www.zf.com.my/mn_read_article.jsp?mnid=MN2002122300038786AFA955

[joker2107]

ever noticed that star short changes klang valley readers? there are actually at least two editions daily. on sundays the early edition will not give u the latest sports update. whats most incorrect is that there is no indication of which is which edition on the cover. this i call intentional deception. but whats most irritating is that two vendors facing each other across a street sell different versions. and they do not know it. and they do not always get the same eidtion. Vendor X may get the early edition today but the later edition tomorrow.

for an addiitonal 20 sen i won't be able to stomach this crab.

p.s. i was in taiping a few weeks ago. i drove from aulong to kamunting town centre where all the banks are located. guess what? there are NO newspaper vendors along the whole 4 to 5 km stretch or in the commercial hub itself. the nearest place i could get a newspaper i was told was taiping town centre some 6 to 8 km away. even there only a handful of shops vend newspapers!

[satish]

Joker,
Maybe its because "most people" from Taiping and
its vicinity are "computer literate"?
They do not want "paper version", as you said..might be old edition but prefer electronic
version..ha..ha..(I was born at Taiping!).
CHeers!

[CH]

Working at the Star has its benefits. Too bad I am not one of them :(

Their annual advert income is many times The Sun and yet The Sun is still able to give papers for free.

Their staffs get many months of bonus while we can just see ... I did not even get increament this year ...:mad:

And now we have to pay more to get second grade stuff ...

What to do? This is the norms of this world ......