This company has held fast to the principle of honest dealing for many years.
Tips
usage
Takes abstract objects only: 原则 (principles), 理念 (values), 公正 (fairness). For physically holding something you need 拿 or 握. It belongs to speeches, statements and formal writing rather than conversation.
memory
The old form of 秉 shows a hand closing around a stalk of grain, and 持 is the hand radical plus a phonetic. Two hands holding on: grip it, then keep gripping.
