1 month ago
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PETALING JAYA: Berjaya Sports Toto Bhd (BToto) posted a net profit of RM67.85 million for its first quarter ended Sept 30, a marginal 1.3% increase from RM66.96 million in the previous corresponding quarter, due to the higher pre-tax profit contributions from Sports Toto Malaysia Sdn Bhd and H.R. Owen Plc in the quarter.
Revenue however, declined 6.3% to RM1.35 billion, from RM1.44 billion previously.
In its Bursa filing, the group said Sports Toto registered a drop in revenue of 18.2% in the current quarter under review mainly due to slower than expected economic recovery and weaker consumer sentiment since the resumption of operations after the lockdown period.
In spite of the drop in revenue, its pre-tax profit increased by 1.4% attributed mainly to lower prize payout and lower operating expenses incurred in the quarter under review.
H.R. Owen registered a revenue growth of 10.8% to RM667.2 million from RM602.4 million in the previous year’s corresponding quarter on higher sales generated from the new car sector, and the favourable foreign exchange effect on conversion into ringgit terms (the reporting currency of the BToto Group) in the current quarter under review.
Its pre-tax profit increased to RM18.4 million from RM4.3 million, mainly attributed to lower operating expenses incurred as a result of austerity measures undertaken by the company as well as certain governmental reliefs obtained arising from the lockdown order imposed by the UK government.
BToto has declared a first interim dividend of 4 sen per share, amounting to a distribution of RM53.7 million, representing about 79.2% of the attributable profit of the group for the quarter.
Looking ahead, the group said as the pandemic continues to evolve globally, it may be challenging to ascertain the full extent and duration of its impact on the group’s main businesses.
“At this juncture, a few countries have reintroduced various degrees of lockdown and restrictive measures, including Malaysia which is facing the third wave of the Covid-19 outbreak, and this would post further challenges to the group’s business operations.
“In spite of that, the directors are cautiously optimistic that the group’s businesses will gradually recover with the fairly resilient nature of the NFO business as noted in the past economic crises and turbulent periods,” it said.
BToto is confident it will to maintain its market share in the number forecast operator business for the remaining quarters of the FY2021 ending June 30.
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