Asia's third-largest media company, Singapore Press Holdings Ltd, is expected to post lower quarterly profit, hurt by weak advertising revenue in a year of see-saw economic growth, analysts said on Friday.

But the company, which has a near monopoly on newspaper publishing in the city state and owns the 158-year old English language daily the Straits Times, can expect better advertising revenues in the current year as the economy recovers.

Singapore Press will publish its first set of quarterly results for the three months ended November 30 on Monday after the market close.

Copyright Reuters, 2004