Singapore National Printers Pte Ltd Agenda & Minutes of Directors' Meeting
File covers the period Apr 73–Dec 73. The Singapore National Printers (SNP) was established, as a private company, with a share capital of $20m, on 26 Mar1973, vide copy of the “Memorandum and Articles of Association of the Singapore National Printers Pte Ltd”, under the Companies Act Cap 185. The first two directors were Kwa Soon Chuan and Julia Yeow Geok Imm, both of whom were civil servants. Subsequently more directors were appointed. File contents are on the notes and deliberations of the SNP Board of Directors (BOD) monthly meetings for April to October 73 (no records for September). (For information, the SNP was the outcome of the corporatisation of the Government Printing Office.)
The BOD was regularly updated by the SNP senior management and its decisions were also sought on various matters, such as staffing issues (recruitment of staff, salary scales, terms and conditions of employment, etc); financial status of SNP; reorganisation and development and renovations to the former GPO; valuation of assets (tangible and intangible), need to upgrade machines; fire precautions and insurance.
Issues discussed at the 1st BOD meeting included the appointment of a chairman and additional directors for the BOD, and senior management, bank and auditor for SNP. Staff matters dominated the 2nd BOD meeting, eg, settlement of the retirement benefits for the staff of the former Government Printing Office (GPO), recruitment of staff (some of whom were ex-GPO staff), proposed salary scales, terms and conditions of service. Given the escalating prices in the cost of papers, the BOD agreed to a proposal to stock up paper. In addition, the SNP management also proposed that SNP be given preferential treatment by government departments to quote and be given the print job if SNP’s quote was within 5% of the lowest quote (for two years, subject to review). At the 4th BOD meeting, it was decided that an Executive Committee (EXCO), comprising a Chairman (Ministry of Finance representative) and two directors, be formed to decide on matters on behalf of the BOD. By the 6th BOD meeting, it was reported that the staff position had become more stable and staff more confident in the company and generally the profitability of the company was increasing. Apart from that SNP was also considering a joint venture with a foreign company to venture into security printing. SNP also proposed to review the pricing of legal publications (eg gazettes) which was printed solely by GPO and subsequently by SNP (the appointed government printer).
Apr 1973 - Dec 1973
AP 040
Registration is required to read, cite and quote from this file. Copies may be made for personal reference and research. Making copies for other purposes such as online presentations, exhibitions or publications requires written permission.
Request to View
Due to the increase in requests for government records, processing times will be significantly delayed until further notice. We apologise for the inconvenience.
