PETALING JAYA: Sports Toto Bhd’s (SPToto, formerly known as Berjaya Sports Toto Bhd) net profit for the third quarter ended March 31, 2022 jumped fourfold to RM79.56 million from RM18.68 million a year ago, attributed primarily to higher results reported by its principal subsidiary, STM Lottery Sdn Bhd (formerly Sports Toto Malaysia Sdn Bhd), as well as from HR Owen Plc.
Its revenue increased 54% to RM1.73 billion from RM1.12 billion in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.
For the nine months period, its net profit was lower at RM115.16 million compared with RM151.59 million a year ago, mainly from the lower results reported by STM Lottery, which was mitigated by improved results from HR Owen. The group’s share of profits in associate companies in the current financial period, as opposed to share of losses in the previous year’s corresponding period, also mitigated the effects of the decrease in the group’s profit.
The group reported a 1.9% increase in revenue to RM3.77 billion compared with RM3.70 billion in the corresponding period of the previous year, mainly attributed to higher sales registered by HR Owen.
The board has declared a third interim dividend of 2.0 sen per share in respect of the financial year ending June 30, 2022 and payable on July 22, 2022. The entitlement date has been fixed on June 30, 2022.
The third interim dividend distribution for the financial year ending June 30, 2022 will amount to RM26.8 million. With this, the total dividend distribution for the nine-month financial period is RM53.6 million, representing about 46.6% of the profit of the group for the nine-month period.
As Malaysia transitions towards endemicity along with the reopening of international borders and further relaxation of Covid-19 standard operating procedures from May 1, 2022, the pace of the overall economic growth is expected to accelerate. However, the Russia-Ukraine war
and certain supply chain disruptions following China’s strict Covid-19 policy may continue to impact the global and domestic economies.
The management of SPToto will remain vigilant and continue to monitor the development of domestic and global economic issues and its resultant impact on the group’s operations.
“The directors are cautiously optimistic that the group’s businesses will gradually recover with the resilient nature of the number forecast operation (NFO) business as noted in the past economic crises and turbulent periods. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, the directors are confident that the group will continue to lead in terms of market share in the NFO business for the financial year ending June 30, 2022 in line with the recovery of the NFO industry when the overall economy improves,“ the group said.
