PETALING JAYA: Berjaya Sports Toto Bhd’s (BToto) pre-tax profit for the second quarter ended Oct 31, 2018 fell 1.9% to RM94.29 million from RM96.08 million a year ago due to lower results from Sports Toto Malaysia Sdn Bhd.
In a filing with Bursa Malaysia, BToto said the lower results from Sports Toto was partly mitigated by improved results from H.R. Owen Plc and Philippine Gaming Management Corporation (PGMC).
Revenue for the quarter fell 2.3% to RM1.35 billion from RM1.38 billion a year ago mainly due to lower revenue reported by Sports Toto and H.R. Owen.
According to the group, Sports Toto’s 1.4% drop in revenue was mainly due to the previous year’s corresponding quarter which registered strong sales from its high jackpot in the Grand Toto 6/63 game, while its higher percentage decrease in pre-tax profit of 13.4% was mainly due to higher prize payout during the quarter under review.
PGMC’s revenue grew 7.2% during the quarter (when reporting in its functional currency) due to higher lease rental income earned consequent to improved sales of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office.
Its pre-tax profit rose 49.8% due to lower operating expenses incurred. However, the unfavourable foreign exchange effect upon translation to ringgit resulted in PGMC’s revenue falling marginally by 0.4% while the increase in pre-tax profit was lower at 39%.
H.R. Owen’s revenue (in its functional currency) rose 1.1% due to higher revenue from new car sales. It recorded a pre-tax profit of GBP800,000 during the quarter compared with a loss of GBP700,000 a year ago due to higher sales from the new car sector.
However, upon translation to ringgit, the H.R. Owen reported a drop in revenue of 3.1% to RM523.6 million from RM540.3 million a year ago due to the unfavourable foreign exchange effect.
It recorded a pre-tax profit of RM4.5 million compared with a pre-tax loss of RM4 million a year ago.
For the six months ended Oct 31, 2018, pre-tax profit rose 6.4% to RM227.33 million from RM213.60 million a year ago while revenue fell marginally to RM2.85 billion from RM2.86 billion a year ago.
The board has declared a second interim dividend of 4 sen per share in respect of the financial year ending April 30, 2019 (FY19), payable on Feb 12, 2019. The entitlement date has been fixed on Jan 18, 2019.
The second interim dividend distribution for FY19 will amount to RM53.9 million. The total dividend distribution for the financial period ended Oct 31, 2018 is 8 sen per share amounting to about RM107.8 million, representing 73.2% of the attributable profit of the group for the period.
The group expects Sports Toto’s performance to be satisfactory and is confident that BToto will continue to maintain its market share in the number forecast operator business for the remaining quarters of FY19.
