Bursa Malaysia : Sinchew

Background

Sin Chew Media Corp Bhd (“Sinchew”) is the publisher of the country’s largest circulated Chinese newspaper, Sin Chew Daily and Guang Ming Daily. The controlling shareholder of Sinchew is Tan Sri Tiong Hiew King, a Sarawak tycoon.

Recent Financial Return

Sinchew’s cumulative net profit for the last 4 quarters amounted to RM54.3 mil, which represents a drop of 9.5% as compared to the preceding 4 quarters’ bottom line. During the periods under consideration, its turnover has increased marginally by 2.4% from RM460 mil to RM472 mil.

Valuation

Based on the last 4 quarters' EPS of 18.0 sen & today's closing price of RM2.67, Sinchew is now trading at a PE of 14.8 times. However, I believe Sinchew, like other media stocks, would benefit in the light of the improvement in the economy going forward.