Singapore Press to restore 50pct of pay cuts

Singapore Press Holdings Ltd, the city’s biggest newspaper publisher, said it will restore 50 per cent of the pay cuts introduced in April and give special one-off payments to its workers.

The company reduced worker’s monthly salaries by between 2 per cent and 10 per cent in April as the global economic slump hurt advertising, it said in a statement to the Singapore stock exchange on Tuesday. The cuts didn’t affect employees earning S$2,000 ($1,448) or less a month, it said.

Singapore’s economy emerged from a yearlong recession in the second quarter as the world began to recover from its worst slump since the Great Depression. Singapore Press Holdings Chief Executive Officer Alan Chan described 2009 as a “difficult year” that required the company to cut operating costs.

“The business outlook remains uncertain despite there being signs of a gradual recovery,” he said in the statement. “We will have to monitor our cost levels closely while at the same time continuing to exploit opportunities to grow beyond print and beyond Singapore.”

The pay restoration will take effect in January and the one-off payments at the end of the same month, the company said.