Popular Holdings

[a74henry]

I have attended the AGM and is comforted that the management will operate Borders differently from its previous self which is loss making. Of course, "don't bother, be popular" and Borders will be popular and profitable.

[ashuro]

the usual amusement & bemusement over "old-Pop" buying Borders, etc etc.

any half-baked business student can give the obvious overview:

1. an old fashion chinese bookshop that looks like a permanent jumble sale trying to look modern by buying another brand? sounds like an old gossipy hag wearing too much makeup, belly hanging over the mini-skirt & shuffling in fish net stockings.

2. decent margins from textbooks & stationery, yet company still manage to achieve plunge in revenues & net profit.

3. failed with capturing market share for English section, then Harris & prologue. With steadfast belief in old-world retail experiences, & without any change in management, directors & strategies, does anyone seriously think its money wisely spent on Borders?...Duh...no peanuts for correct answers.

4. what IS the point of buying Borders? why take on well-established English book sellers when the whole country knows its chinese jumble sale Popular spreading stocks around the branches?

5. With the new business paradigm (e-whatever) in english publishing, and retail being subject to distributors margins on sale or returns, and with the well known poor popular english book selection, Popular spending spree is well placed to reduce tax liabilities.

6. property development without any property development team in place, at ALL levels & ALL departments. action replay with prologue & Borders.

singaporeans like to shop & spend money, so all is OK. Try the popular business model in any US or european city, & see the textbook failure.

[KopiKat]

the usual amusement & bemusement over "old-Pop" buying Borders, etc etc.

any half-baked business student can give the obvious overview:

1. an old fashion chinese bookshop that looks like a permanent jumble sale trying to look modern by buying another brand? sounds like an old gossipy hag wearing too much makeup, belly hanging over the mini-skirt & shuffling in fish net stockings.

2. decent margins from textbooks & stationery, yet company still manage to achieve plunge in revenues & net profit.

3. failed with capturing market share for English section, then Harris & prologue. With steadfast belief in old-world retail experiences, & without any change in management, directors & strategies, does anyone seriously think its money wisely spent on Borders?...Duh...no peanuts for correct answers.

4. what IS the point of buying Borders? why take on well-established English book sellers when the whole country knows its chinese jumble sale Popular spreading stocks around the branches?

5. With the new business paradigm (e-whatever) in english publishing, and retail being subject to distributors margins on sale or returns, and with the well known poor popular english book selection, Popular spending spree is well placed to reduce tax liabilities.

6. property development without any property development team in place, at ALL levels & ALL departments. action replay with prologue & Borders.

singaporeans like to shop & spend money, so all is OK. Try the popular business model in any US or european city, & see the textbook failure.

Thank you for the effort you must have put into your lengthy post.
As Warren Buffett said (I twist his words), what you write can tell us more about the writer, rather than the contents....

You sounds like an insider / ex-insider, someone like Wayne...

[godjira1]

Ashuro - just curious, are you a businessman yourself? If you are not i would like to share with you something - it is important ALWAYS to explore avenues for growth/reinvention and be aggressive and be willing to take risks on that.

That is interestingly what I noticed is generally lacking in many business students at both undergrad and graduate lvls.

In that vein, Popular's "let a thousand flowers bloom" approach isn't wrong in itself but the execution i think could be better.

Disclosure: am not vested in popular.

[pianist]

I think popular & malls succeeded in this part of the world becos the weather is hot here and the island is boring, so pple stayed in-door in the malls, do reading indoor, nothing much else to do in the small island?

[orang]

Should succession plans or the lack of it be a concern?

[KopiKat]

Should succession plans or the lack of it be a concern?

It's always a concern....

My optimistic view is, fortunately, we're not talking about Apple or even Microsoft, where a visionary CEO is very much a need, rather than a want.

In our case here, I don't see any problem in the short term as we have established heads in place for each country segment, who can easily fill in as the interim CEO or perhaps, one of the long serving Board member. That ought to give the Board enough time to find a replacement, assuming that whoever gains control of the controlling stake is not interested in the job. Here, my trail just turned cold for one potential candidate....

[ashuro]

[/quote]

Thank you for the effort you must have put into your lengthy post.
As Warren Buffett said (I twist his words), what you write can tell us more about the writer, rather than the contents....

You sounds like an insider / ex-insider, someone like Wayne...
[/quote]

Hi, late reply as I've been away: I'm stating the obvious as usual....

All the details are easily derived when figures compared with previous years and from full year results released before annual report and AGM.

noticed the error on paragraph 16 on page 17?

its a no-brainer really, devil's in the details but tedious.

when a "big-deal" established retailer had to blame downturn on lack of a single bookfest event, then it speaks volume about their normal ops.

---

Ashuro - just curious, are you a businessman yourself? If you are not i would like to share with you something - it is important ALWAYS to explore avenues for growth/reinvention and be aggressive and be willing to take risks on that.

That is interestingly what I noticed is generally lacking in many business students at both undergrad and graduate lvls.

In that vein, Popular's "let a thousand flowers bloom" approach isn't wrong in itself but the execution i think could be better.

Disclosure: am not vested in popular.

Hi, great comment above, you even had "ALWAYS" in capitals, impressive.

So according to you, Popular is an innovative, adventurous, aggressive risk taker. Hence they are right up in front with retail designs, merchandising, new-media presence such as online retailing & tweets etc. They must have deliberately failed with various branch closures as well as Harris & Prologue etc, and made sure they maintained their image as a big chaineesey corner shop stacking up on old stock.

I'll try to be more observant.

[ashuro]

http://popular.listedcompany.com/newsroo...EAE4.1.pdf

just as I predicted to a few contacts over a year ago: don't believe the hype, less emphasis on stocks, & follow operating costs.

Enron & Worldcom kept investors happy for quite awhile.

dabbling or "always" exploring new business directions are fine, as long as proper teams are in place. In this case it was naive, reinventing wheels & tight-fisted with getting proper management. I thought selling off-plan was essential, property is not like waiting for customers to browse old books on shelves. Its not like importing cheap stock from China either.

http://ctchew.blogspot.co.uk/2012_03_01_archive.html

I received a web link for one of their most senior managers in Malaysia. I just wonder what the management is like in HK, Taiwan or China...fun is fine, not so sure about the goofing hobby on public blogs.

http://www.straitstimes.com/breaking-new...year-end-2

comments from Singapore youths don't seem to be over-positive, no difference to my own straw polls then.

[KopiKat]

This may be how one man is planning to spend his Dividend (1ct xd tomorrow),

PROPOSED SALE OF UNITS #05-01 AND #05-02 AT 18 SHELFORD TO CHOU CHENG NGOK

But, will need to top up with cash or take bank loan...
Those ought to be the last units at 18 Shelford. Based on the List Price, found same price listing on propertyguru.com,... $5.8M unit & $4.7M unit.