Hotel Grand Central reports 38% fall in FY12 net profit

Hotel Grand Central on Friday posted a 38 per cent fall in its full-year net profit to S$16.8 million, from S$27.2 million a year ago.

Total revenue for the year ended Dec 31, 2012 was S$160.6 million, down 4 per cent year-on-year, attributed to lower revenue contributions from the Singapore and New Zealand hotel operations.

The Orchard Road hotel has stopped operations for redevelopment since Aug 1 last year. The decrease in earnings was also due to the impairment loss on hotel building, as a result of the demolition of Hotel Grand Central Singapore.

A final scrip dividend of 5 cents per share was declared, unchanged from the previous year.

Hotel Grand Central reports 38% fall in FY12 net profit

Uzbekistan Airways plots Singapore route

UZBEKISTAN Airways is planning to mount direct flights between Singapore and Tashkent slated for late this year.

 

Revealing this at its inaugural roadshow in Singapore yesterday, Uzbekistan Airways’ commercial director, Erkin Ubaydullaev, said the national carrier had observed a growing interest for non-stop flights between Singapore and Uzbekistan’s capital from both countries.

 

A twice-weekly service is being considered, with an average load of about 100 passengers each way.

 

Pointing out that this would eliminate the need for travellers to transit at Kuala Lumpur or Bangkok, he said: “We hope that the number of tourists will grow by at least twice compared to previous years.”

 

Patricia Auyeong,acting CEO for National Association of Travel Agents Singapore, said Uzbekistan had great tourism potential for tourism because of its rich history and culture. She said: “Singapore travel agencies have been selling this country as a travel destination for the last few years.

 

“Although the numbers are relatively small, (travel consultants) saw an increase in the number of Singaporeans visiting the country. In 2011, there were 350 Singaporeans, and in 2012, the number increased to 500.” 

 

Uzbekistan Association of Tourism Organizations’ chairman, Otabek Djalilov, said: “Singapore is an important market for us in Asia, and we are pretty sure this new tourist destination will appeal to Singapore even more now.”

 

Ubaydullaev added that Singapore was a popular Asian destination for Uzbekistan’s outbound travellers as well.  

 

The Tourism in Uzbekistan and Uzbekistan Airways roadshow, which also took place in Kuala Lumpur earlier this year, will make its way to Bangkok later in 2013.

 

- Read more in TTG Asia, March 8, 2013

Uzbekistan Airways plots Singapore route

Freedom of thought scrutinized in Singapore

A Singaporean journalism professor and outspoken critic of restrictions on media freedom in Singapore — where Yale is establishing a joint college with the National University of Singapore — has been denied tenure at Nanyang Technological University for a second time, sparking renewed debate about freedom of thought at Singaporean universities.

George Cherian, an associate professor in journalism studies at Nanyang’s School of Communication and Information in Singapore, was first denied tenure in 2009 and then again in this month. He has been a vocal critic of Singapore’s lack of media freedom and published a book last year titled “Freedom From The Press,” in which he  argues that the city-state’s media system has been structured to enable the People’s Action Party — Singapore’s leading party — to manipulate the media.

In a Tuesday evening statement, the Singaporean university said it cannot comment of specific tenure cases, adding that the tenure process at the school is “rigorous.”

But Cherian’s supporters suspect that his difficulties obtaining tenure might be due to political reasons. His case has reignited conversations about media freedom in Singapore and academic freedom in universities.

“I am aware of this case, but of course am not in a position to comment on all of the considerations taken into account in Nanyang Technological University’s decision not to award tenure,” Yale-NUS President Pericles Lewis said in a Tuesday email.

Lewis said decisions about tenure at the Singaporean liberal arts college will be based exclusively on academic merit, adding that the school’s tenure system will be “similar to other leading liberal arts colleges, with review for promotion to tenure ordinarily during the candidate’s sixth year of teaching.” Academic freedom is a “bedrock principle” of the new college, Lewis added.

Cherian’s former students have started an online petition urging the university to publicly disclose its reasons for denying Cherian tenure and to clarify the details of the school’s tenure process. As of press time, the petition had 891 signatures.

Freedom of thought scrutinized in Singapore