Popular Holdings

Infobox Company
company_name = Popular Holdings Limited
company_
company_type = Public ()
foundation = Singapore, 1924
location = Singapore
key_people = Chou Cheng Ngok (Chairman)
num_employees =
industry = Publishing and Printing
products = Publishing and Printing
revenue = profit S$383,787 (2006)
operating_income =
net_income =
homepage = [http://www.popularworld.com/ http://www.popularworld.com/]

Popular Holdings (Chinese: 大众书局) (Sgx|P29), commonly called Popular, is a Singapore-based company that publishes, distributes, and retails books for the local education market. It has subsidiaries in countries such as Canada, the People's Republic of China, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Taiwan. In the financial year 2005, it had a net profit of S$10.6 million, on a turnover of S$360 million.

The first Popular Bookstore was set up in 1936 by Chou Sing Chu in North Bridge Road, focusing on retailing Chinese books and stationery. In March 2006, Popular Holdings was one of the organisers of Bookfest@Singapore, the first Chinese-language book fair ever held outside of China. [cite news | url = http://www.china.org.cn/english/2006/Mar/161159.htm | title = Read All About It in Singapore | publisher = China Daily | date = 11 March 2006 | accessdate = 2006-07-28]

History

Popular was founded in 1924 as the Cheng Hing Company, established by the late Chou Sing Chu in 1924, during the boom time of the Chinese book business, in the busy port of Tanjong Pagar. It soon evolved from the World Book Company in the early 1930s. During that time, it engaged in the distribution and publishing of Chinese books. It became one of the four most prestigious Chinese books publishers in Singapore since then.

In 1949, after World War II, Popular commenced publishing activities in Hong Kong under the trade name of World Publishing Company to publish magazines and Chinese books and these magazines and Chinese books were distributed in Asia markets. In 1975, the Singapore bookstore operations launched the 'B'ilingual bookstore concept and brought the concept over to Malaysia in 1984 to further its regional expansion strategy.

Popular Holdings was incorporated in Singapore on 5 October 1996 as a private company under the name of Popular Holdings Limited Pte Ltd. In May 1997, the Company was listed on the main board of the Singapore Exchange and changed its name to Popular Holdings Limited accordingly. The principal activity of the Company is that of investment holding. [citeweb | title = About POPULAR - The POPULAR Story | publisher = Popular Holdings | url = http://www.popularworld.com/about/story.html | accessdate = 2006-07-28]

In 2005, the company formed a subsidiary to operate English schools ("bushiban") in Republic of China to exploit the local market for English education. [cite news | url = http://investintaiwan.nat.gov.tw/en/news/200503/2005032201.html | title = Singaporean English school looking to teach Taiwan's kids | publisher = United Daily News | date = 22 March 2005 | accessdate = 2006-07-28]

Mission

Popular's mission is 'To be a leader and dynamic company. To provide value-for-money products and quality services to our customers, a pleasant working environment for people, and to be a good corporate citizen.'

Vision

Popular's vision is 'To serve our people, to grow with our society and to mutually benefit from the world.' [citeweb | title = About Popular | publisher = Popular Holdings | url = http://www.popularworld.com/about/ | accessdate = 2008-01-17 ]

Core values

The core values of Popular form 'POPULAR', which is its own name. It stands for:
* People - People are our customers, the reason of our existence. People are our employees, our greatest asset.
* Objectivity - We approach our work positively through pro-active participation and open communication.
* Product - We provide our customers quality products at value-for-money prices.
* Unity - respect our people and we promote teamwork.
* Leadership - We lead with commitment, integrity and competence.
* Action - We strive for excellence, fostering a quality culture in our company.
* Reward & Recognition - We encourage, recognise and reward our people for exemplary performance.

Board of directors

Popular is headed by Chou Cheng Ngok, who is the Chairman and Managing Director of the company. Other important directors include Lim Lee Ngoh, Vangatharaman Ramayah, Lim Soon Tze and Wayne Chou. [citeweb | title = About POPULAR - Board of Directors | publisher = Popular Holdings | url = http://www.popularworld.com/about/management.html | accessdate = 2008-01-17 ]

Group of Companies

The Group currently carries out its publishing activities through subsidiaries operating in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and Canada. Its bookstore operations currently have a network of over 90 Popular Bookstores and 360 Popular managed bookstores. It now has its core businesses in retail, distribution, publishing and e-learning.

Subsidiaries

The list of its subsidiaries is listed below: [citeweb | title = About POPULAR - Group of Companies | publisher = Popular Holdings | url = http://www.popularworld.com/about/companies.html | accessdate = 2008-01-17 ]
* Popular Book Company (Pte) Ltd (Singapore)
* Popular Office Products (S) Pte Ltd (Singapore)
* PopularWorld.com Pte Ltd (Singapore)
* Harris Book Company Pte. Ltd. (Singapore)
* Novum Organum Publishing House Pte Ltd (Singapore)
* Popular Book Co. (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd. (Malaysia)
* Arajasa Corporation Sdn. Bhd. (Malaysia)
* CD Rama Sdn. Bhd. (Malaysia)
* Novum Organum Publishing House (M) Sdn. Bhd. (Malaysia)
* Popular Book Company Limited
* Harris Book Company Limited
* CD Rama Limited
* eNet Digital Pacific Limited
* EduHealth Limited
* Popular Modern Books Company Limited
* Popular Yuchen Company Limited (Taiwan)
* Popular Yuchen Book Limited (Taiwan)
* One-Stop Popular Bookmart (B) Sdn Bhd (Sinapore)
* Popular Book Co Pty Ltd
* Popular UK Pte Limited (British)
* EPH Publishing (M) Sdn. Bhd. (Malaysia)
* English Language Publishing Limited (Hong Kong)
* Kam Pui Enterprises Limited (Hong Kong)
* Kinder Education Press Limited (Hong Kong)
* Ampress Limited
* New Asia Publishing House Limited (Hong Kong)
* New Edge International Limited
* Popular Kids Co., Ltd.
* Popular Digital Products (Shenzhen) Ltd. (China)
* PopularWorld (Beijing) Limited (China)
* Educational Publishing House Limited (Hong Kong)
* Popular e-Learning Holdings Pte Ltd (Singapore)
* Educational Publishing House Pte Ltd (Sinapore)
* EduPlanner Pte. Ltd. (Singapore)
* EduLand Pte. Ltd. (Singapore)
* Learning Edvantage Pte Ltd
* Pan Lloyds Publishers Limited (Hong Kong)
* Cyber Progress Technology Limited
* Popular e-Learning (H.K.) Limited
* Town4kids Limited
* Guangzhou Cyber Progress Information Technology Limited
* Popular e-Learning (Beijing) Ltd.
* Beijing Tsinghua Timefound & Cisco System Technology Co., Ltd

References

External links

* [http://www.popularworld.com/ Popular Holdings] - Official site
* [http://www.popularworld.com/about/ Popular company information]
* [http://www.popular.com.sg Popular Malaysia]
* [http://www.popular.com.my Popular Malaysia]