Popular Holdings

Friends used to tell me that book retailing is tough business because of rising rentals and wages. Is this true?
Is retailing essential to Popular's publishing business, which commands higher margin?

Saw the director sold just 3000 shares last week.

Quite funny for such volume

maybe director wants to use his shares to pay for his rich kopi...

I read from next insight that popular is one of the most cash rich company on per share basis.

Interestingly, my friend was telling me Popular education arm has now expanded into conducting educational courses and lessons for MNCs/Educational Institutions. I cant seem to find any mention of that in the Annual Report though.

With PageOne and Borders gone and MPH downsized, Popular is now back to being the dominant book retailer in Singapore.

(13-02-2012, 10:09 AM)propertyinvestor Wrote: With PageOne and Borders gone and MPH downsized, Popular is now back to being the dominant book retailer in Singapore.

Can't agree with you on that since Popular is more a stationary/assessment book retailer 1st and a book retailer 2nd. Its own Harris (which is a more bona fide book retailer) has also bite the dust.

Popular's position is unique in that sense. The fact is that books are going the way of the CD shops and dropping one by one; so its more a reflection of the state of the industry rather than Popular's perceived dominance.

(Vested in Popular)

Based on the good results of the 1st 9 months (ended 31Jan12).....
http://info.sgx.com/webcoranncatth.nsf/V...C003C346C/$file/SGXNet_Announcement_31_Jan_2012_Final.pdf?openelement
, I think Popular is poised to post a set of good full-year results for FY12 (ending 30Apr12).

Would Popular be prepared to riase the Final dividend (last FY11: $0.006/share), which is usually in early Sep ?

What on earth are they planning to do with their acquisition of Epilogue Catering Pte Ltd from the father and son??

See today's SGX Annc

From JobStreet, some useful info,

- Specializing in premium coffees and sandwiches
- Willing to work in town area

My guess is most likely, they plan to open a tiny cafe within their Popular bookstores starting with one which is located in town area.

I hope I'm right cos' if they're planning to diversify into the F&B biz, I'm going to divest all my shares. I don't like diversification into new biz in area where they have no core competence - see how disastrous their foray into Properties was at the beginning, the learning curve and the subsequent 2 rights issues. Good thing I'd divested before that.

(16-03-2012, 11:55 PM)dydx Wrote: Based on the good results of the 1st 9 months (ended 31Jan12).....
http://info.sgx.com/webcoranncatth.nsf/V...C003C346C/$file/SGXNet_Announcement_31_Jan_2012_Final.pdf?openelement
, I think Popular is poised to post a set of good full-year results for FY12 (ending 30Apr12).

Would Popular be prepared to riase the Final dividend (last FY11: $0.006/share), which is usually in early Sep ?

Q412 (Apr) is seasonally their worst Q? But, assuming they managed to maintain the same level of earnings as Q411, then EPS = 3.4ct (better than FY11 EPS = 2.83ct but worse than FY10 EPS = 4.53ct). That'd be good enough to increase DPS to 0.7ct?

What I don't quite like about Popular Hldgs is their low NPM of 3% - 6% when they're profitable. For now, I can live with that as long as they remain profitable.

What I like about Popular Hldgs is their huge cash of $129Mil ($0.1538/share or $0.1184 Net of all Debts). They also have unsold Properties @ $15.3Mil (1.82ct/share) & Development Properties @ $64.3Mil (7.64ct/share). BUT, I don't think it's likely they'll pay out the cash as a Special Dividend. Most likely, it'll be used for acquiring new land for their Property Biz + Development Expenses.

"tiny cafe within their Popular bookstores starting with one which is located in town area." interesting ideas.
With a bookstore next, will this lower the turnover of customers ?

Come on, is just 44K don't be so mean.
At least they start small.

People have not given up on reading, they have moved on to reading from digital media. Ipads/etc
Much like moving from typewriters to word processors. Paper/books is just a medium which ideas are conveyed.

Of course there's stationary but book sales is going to be hit. It'll be a gradual decline.
Many material used in schools have moved to digital media.
Unless they can secure the content, otherwise it is downhill from here. It cannot remain as a bookstore.

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Newspapers are slightly different. They have reporters/writers, the content.
People want that. It is a more durable moat.