The cost-cutting flurry by the publisher of the Straits Times is a response to Singapore's deepest recession since 1964. The island's dominant newspaper publisher counts on advertising for three-quarters of its sales and the economy is forecast to shrink 3 percent this year.

``There's nothing much they can do except maybe to contain costs,'' said Pang Shun Pen, who manages $550 million at HSZ Singapore Pte., including Singapore Press shares. Pang would like the company to use its S$1 billion (US$552 million) cash reserves to buy back stock to boost returns after the shares dropped 30 percent this year.

Lim's progress will become clearer today when the company reports earnings. Net income in the year ended Aug 31 probably fell 22 percent to S$328 million from S$419 million a year earlier, according to the mean estimate of seven analysts in a Bloomberg News survey.

Lim, who declined to be interviewed for this story, has rewarded investors during 13 years at the helm. Singapore Press profit rose almost four-fold in the past 10 years during which time the stock handed out an annual return of 18 percent, including dividends.

The company's shares fell as much as 20 cents, or 1 percent, to S$17.60.

Purse Strings

Lim has been watching the purse strings for more than seven decades. At age 12, he started managing the family's cash for businesses ranging from rubber to salt, sago to gasoline.

``The long-term future and the bottomline are foremost in his mind,'' said Denis Tay, Singapore Press' former deputy president who retired in March after 37 years with the company.

In August, Lim canceled the company's annual staff dinner for the first time since he took over. Expense accounts, employees say, are being vetted like never before. On Oct. 3, he proposed taking the company's Internet unit private because it will take longer than he expected to become profitable.

Lim isn't one to shirk a challenge. In 1988 shortly after taking over at Singapore Press, he gave the editor of a tabloid, The New Paper, three months to turn the paper around.

The editor, Peter Lim, recalls reminding his new boss, a close aide of then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, that the New Paper was Lee's idea. The government holds management shares in Singapore Press, each of which has 200 times the voting right of ordinary shares, giving it a veto over key decisions.

The chairman's reply was ``I was not a party to the business plan, I don't feel bound by it,'' Peter Lim said. ``If the PM wants a paper, he can pay for it.'' The editor increased advertising by adding more sensationalist content and the tabloid survived.

Lost Monopoly

More than a decade on, Lim must contend with the loss of a monopoly after the government gave MediaCorp of Singapore, a state- owned broadcaster, a newspaper license last June.

Declining advertising dollars also prompted Lim in June to shut Project Eyeball, a sister tabloid of the New Paper.

Lim, a former Finance Minister and central banker, has other costs and profit targets to meet.

His new broadcast unit, SPH MediaWorks Ltd., is struggling to reach its goal of snaring half the television advertising market in three years.

Lim proposed buying back the company's Internet unit, SPH AsiaOne Ltd., after the company had traded as low as one-sixth of its offer price of 60 Singapore cents.

He has no intention of slowing down, colleagues say, spending his free time reading news magazines and rival publications.

``He's always very alert to what's going on,'' said Executive Vice President of Marketing Tham Khai Wor, who has been with the company 29 years. ``He comes in every day, and on alternate Saturdays too.''

Keep Pace

The approach has helped make Singapore Press the eighth- largest stock traded on the Singapore Exchange, with a market value of S$6.46 billion and annual sales of S$1.05 billion.

The challenge now is to respond to changes in viewership habits and advertiser's demands as the company keeps pace with technology. It has ventured into cable television, mobile phone services, Internet web publishing, and television production.

``SPH's biggest challenge is to preserve the Straits Times' title as the No. 1 revenue generator,'' said Peter Lim, now an independent media consultant. ``The media fight is just beginning. It's not unassailable, though it's not easy to topple.''