PETALING JAYA: Berjaya Sports Toto Bhd (BToto) posted a revenue of RM1.12 billion for its third quarter ended March 31, 2021, a 15.8% decline from RM1.33 billion reported in the corresponding quarter of the previous year mainly due to lower contribution from Sports Toto Malaysia Sdn Bhd which was mitigated by stronger results from HR Owen Plc.
Its pretax profit for the quarter stood at RM35.42 million, a 52.4% decline from RM74.34 million reported previously.
The group’s principal subsidiary Sports Toto registered a decrease in revenue and pre-tax profit of 36.1% and 65.1%, respectively for the quarter due to the implementation of MCO 2.0 across Malaysia except Sarawak from Jan 13 to Feb 19. It also saw a slower sales recovery after resuming operations due to wear consumer sentiments and a higher prize payout.
Meanwhile, HR Owen’s revenue rose 12.8% year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM632.1 million for the quarter against RM560.6 million reported previously, contributed by higher sales from both the new and used car sectors coupled with the favourable foreign exchange effect. It saw a 2.6 times higher pretax profit of RM22.1 million compared to RM8.4 million mainly attributed to lower operating expenses incurred as a result of certain austerity measures undertaken by the company, coupled with support fee income received from franchises, as well as certain business relief and grants from the UK government.
For the cumulative nine-months period ended March 31, Btoto’s revenue stood at RM3.7 billion, an 11.4% drop in revenue compared to RM4.18 billion reported in the same period of the previous year.
Its pretax profit for the period fell 14.8% to RM232.28 million, compared to RM272.61 reported previously.
BToto declared a third interim dividend of 1.5 sen per share, amounting to RM20.15 million which will be paid out on July 16.
In regard to its prospects, BToto expects to be affected by the MCO 3.0 from May 12 to June 7.
The group is cautiously optimistic its businesses will gradually recover given the resilient nature of the number forecast operation (NFO) business as noted in the past economic crises and turbulent periods, provided that all sales outlets are not disallowed to operate under any MCO imposed.
Furthermore, it is also confident in maintaining its market share in the NFO business for the remaining quarter of the financial year ending June 30.
