Popular Holdings

[karlmarx]

That can't be much of a threat; it's only a dollar difference! I much prefer physical copies and i reckon I'll buy digital copies only if it's no more than a quarter of the price of a physical book. If content publishers are willing to lower the price significantly, the there's a real threat to physical publishing and retailing. Digital business times cost usd0.99; I could just get it cheaper from the newsstand and I'll certainly enjoy it more as well!

[KopiKat]

Time to play devil's advocate (even though I'm vested).

I see the book 'Search Inside Yourself' by Chade-Meng Tan selling for $19.47 after discount. At the current US/SGD exchange rate, that's like US$15 and some.

I bought my copy (kindle ebook) for US$13.99. And today there's the news about NLB loaning out ebook readers.

I don't think Popular's going to make much money from this part (selling new and popular titles) of the business. Let's all hope that Singaporean and Asian parents remain kiasu!

Extracts from TODAY,

One hundred TumbleBooks Playaways, 100 iPads and five Kindles will be available for loan from today at Bedok Public Library.

Each iPad has 55 pre-loaded titles, while each TumbleBooks Playaway - hand-held devices pre-loaded with animated picture books from the TumbleBooks Library collection - has five to six pre-loaded titles. Each Kindle has 48 pre-loaded titles.

In addition, the iPads can be used to access the NLB's 2.2 million eBooks, magazines and newspapers.


Sorry! It's not as futuristic as you imagined. Perhaps a start, but we'll need a lot more iPads, Kindles,... and at more libraries for that to have any serious impact.

Even if your imagination comes true, I wonder why, since Libraries had been around for such a long time and you could borrow almost any titles, why is it Bookstores could co-exist? Why don't everyone just go to the library to borrow whatever they want to read??

As for personal iPad and Kindles, everybody (or even majority) can afford one? For your dream to come true, every individual would likely need one, difficult to time share.

Personally, what I do like about Books is that I can accidentally drop it or sit on it and it doesn't get broken. I do have an iPad with a cracked screen and it'd cost $400+ for a 1-for-1 replacement as Apple don't do repairs for such problems..

Nevertheless, in the not so near future, what you imagined will likely come true. But, I doubt that I'll see a complete or even >50% switch during my lifetime.

But, yes, I also have serious doubts that Prologue (Ion and OC) will be able to survive. I don't fault them for trying tho' and perhaps, the niche may actually be huge enough... I hope!

[orang]

Time to play devil's advocate (even though I'm vested).

I see the book 'Search Inside Yourself' by Chade-Meng Tan selling for $19.47 after discount. At the current US/SGD exchange rate, that's like US$15 and some.

I bought my copy (kindle ebook) for US$13.99. And today there's the news about NLB loaning out ebook readers.

I don't think Popular's going to make much money from this part (selling new and popular titles) of the business. Let's all hope that Singaporean and Asian parents remain kiasu!

Probably explains why Popular's operating margin is a skinny three percent

[KopiKat]

Probably explains why Popular's operating margin is a skinny three percent

What's that? How to compute?

If I use FY11 (Apr) figures, I got,
Gross Profit Margin = 15.95%
Net Profit Margin = 4.56%
Operating Profit Margin = 5.94%

If I were to use Q411 (Apr) to Q312 (Jan) figures, I got,
Gross Profit Margin = 17.4%
Net Profit Margin = 5.42%
Operating Profit Margin = 6.91%

[orang]

Probably explains why Popular's operating margin is a skinny three percent

What's that? How to compute?

If I use FY11 (Apr) figures, I got,
Gross Profit Margin = 15.95%
Net Profit Margin = 4.56%
Operating Profit Margin = 5.94%

If I were to use Q411 (Apr) to Q312 (Jan) figures, I got,
Gross Profit Margin = 17.4%
Net Profit Margin = 5.42%
Operating Profit Margin = 6.91%

I should have known better to not let my personal interpretation exposed to the public domain.

It is just my practice to exclude other income or other operating income to compute operating margin.

My three percent margin (actual 3.06%) excludes $15.021m. The 5.94% you got includes other operating income of $15.021m

[KopiKat]

I should have known better to not let my personal interpretation exposed to the public domain.

It is just my practice to exclude other income or other operating income to compute operating margin.

My three percent margin (actual 3.06%) excludes $15.021m. The 5.94% you got includes other operating income of $15.021m

Thx for sharing!

I ought to have known better and not let myself be blinded by my being vested and missed out such an important figure!

9mths FY12 figure is $2.571M vs $2.516M (FY11) but unlikely to increase to the same extent as the $15.021M of FY11 for FY12 as they'd reversed all their impairment last year. The Operating Margin will unlikely be the same skinny 3% of FY11, most likely 6%+.

I reproduce the FY11 part (pg 13) on this Other Operating Income for reference,

Other operating income decreased mainly due to a reversal of $21.7million in FY2010, out of the $28.2million impairment for development properties provided for FY2009 to reflect the impact of market price fluctuation. The remaining $6.5million impairment was reversed in FY2011. Reduction in income received from Government’s Job Credit Scheme also contributed to the decrease. The decrease was partially offset by the increase in foreign exchange gain recorded for the year as a result of the depreciation of the Hong Kong dollars.

[dydx]

Popular now has 3 bookstores in Yangon, Myanmar - including 1 new store located in the newly opened Junction Square mall - which are apparently operated by local licensee City Mart Supermarkets....
http://myanmarinsights.com/english-books-yangon

Someone who visited Yangon recently said that the Popular stores in Yangon are smaller than the stores in Singapore but sell similar items.

[karlmarx]

Popular now has 3 bookstores in Yangon, Myanmar - including 1 new store located in the newly opened Junction Square mall - which are apparently operated by local licensee City Mart Supermarkets....
http://myanmarinsights.com/english-books-yangon

Someone who visited Yangon recently said that the Popular stores in Yangon are smaller than the stores in Singapore but sell similar items.

Does the market know about this? They'll go crazy over buying popular as a Myanmar play.

[KopiKat]

Popular now has 3 bookstores in Yangon, Myanmar - including 1 new store located in the newly opened Junction Square mall - which are apparently operated by local licensee City Mart Supermarkets....
http://myanmarinsights.com/english-books-yangon

Someone who visited Yangon recently said that the Popular stores in Yangon are smaller than the stores in Singapore but sell similar items.

Does the market know about this? They'll go crazy over buying popular as a Myanmar play.

Haha.. we can always dream on.. or 'leak' this in CNA forum..

Extracts from wiki,

In 2009, Popular expanded its retail network through granting its Myanmar partner, City Mart Holding Co Ltd, an exclusive license to operate the business of retailing products under the Popular trademarks in the cities of Yangon and Mandalay in Myanmar.

[orang]

I should have known better to not let my personal interpretation exposed to the public domain.

It is just my practice to exclude other income or other operating income to compute operating margin.

My three percent margin (actual 3.06%) excludes $15.021m. The 5.94% you got includes other operating income of $15.021m

Thx for sharing!

I ought to have known better and not let myself be blinded by my being vested and missed out such an important figure!

9mths FY12 figure is $2.571M vs $2.516M (FY11) but unlikely to increase to the same extent as the $15.021M of FY11 for FY12 as they'd reversed all their impairment last year. The Operating Margin will unlikely be the same skinny 3% of FY11, most likely 6%+.

KopiKat.....it's nice of you to come to my playground to watch and understand my game.

My gut feel tells me your 6%+ is a ballpark forecast of the full year's operating margin. I think we share the view that 4Q is the weakest of the quarters

From my window the margin at the 9-months point is 7.1% so the full year could end at a probable 6%. Not forgetting your (+)

What may be relevant is that operating margin has firm up from 3.1% in FY11 and 2.2% for the year before that.

And the question - What is driving the margin?