Update BJToto 4Q profit falls 8.3% yoy to RM69.4m, pays dividend 7 sen per share

by **Cals** Wed 18 Jun 2014, 03:16

Update BJToto 4Q profit falls 8.3% yoy to RM69.4m, pays dividend 7 sen per share

Business & Markets 2014

Written by Jeffrey Tan of theedgemalaysia.com

Tuesday, 17 June 2014 18:35

KUALA LUMPUR (June 17): Berjaya Sports Toto Bhd’s (BJToto) net profit fell 8.3% year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM69.4 million in the fourth quarter ended Apr 30, 2014, from RM75.6 million.

But revenue jumped 46% y-o-y to RM1.36 billion from RM930.9 million.

BJToto declared a fourth interim dividend of 7 sen per share in respect of the financial year ended Apr 30, 2014.

In a statement to Bursa Malaysia, the number forecast operator said the drop in net profit was mainly due to the poorer results of Sports Toto Malaysia Sdn Bhd (Sports Toto) and Berjaya Philippines Inc. (BPI).

BJToto said Sports Toto, the principal subsidiary, recorded a decrease in pre-tax profit of 27.7% mainly due to higher prize payout and operating expenses, including charitable contributions, in the current quarter.

The firm added Sports Toto recorded a drop in revenue of 0.8% mainly due to partial sales contribution during the Chinese New Year period.

As for BPI, BJToto said it recorded lower revenue and pre-tax profit of 6.5% and 10.7% respectively mainly due to lower lease rental income earned as a result of lower sales reported by Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office.

For the full-year period, net profits totalled RM323.9 million versus RM391.1 million in the previous year, while revenue registered RM4.34 billion from RM3.63 billion from a year ago.

BJToto said the drop in pre-tax profit of 12.2% was mainly due to the previous financial year benefiting from the gain on disposal of certain investments coupled with corporate exercise expenses incurred in the current financial year.

Excluding the corporate related expenses, the firm said the drop in the group's pre-tax profit would have been 8.4%.

BJToto said the increase in revenue of 19.6% was mainly attributed to the consolidation of H.R. Owen in the current financial year.

“The gaming sector in Malaysia is expected to remain resilient and the directors expect the group to maintain its market share in the number forecasting operations business,” said BJToto on future prospects.