Costs force first cover price hike for SPH since '95

SPH chief executive Alan Chan said: "Despite concerted efforts to contain costs, particularly by tightening manpower, newspaper production costs have gone up significantly over the years. We can no longer continue to fully absorb rising costs."

The rate increase comes after SPH said revenue from its newspaper and magazine operations fell 2.9 per cent to S$208.1 million (US$122.6 million) for the quarter ending November 30, 2003.

Mindshare Singapore managing director Manpreet Singh said he did not anticipate that the price increase would hurt the circulation of The Straits Times because of its strong brand equity. "If the value of the product in the consumer's mind is strong, (the price hike) should not (affect) circulation significantly."