PETALING JAYA: Berjaya Sports Toto Bhd
(BToto) posted a 35.1% year-on-year jump in net profit to RM104.71mil for the fourth quarter ended April 30 mainly due to the results of Sports Toto and Philippine Gaming Management Corp (PGMC).
The numbers forecast operator said in a filing with Bursa Malaysia that its subsidiary Sports Toto had registered higher profits during the quarter due to lower prize payouts.
PGMC, meanwhile, registered higher earnings during the quarter mainly due to lower operating expenses.
BToto’s revenue in the fourth quarter was flat at RM1.48bil from RM1.46bil a year earlier.
For the financial year ended April 30, 2016 (FY16) the company’s net profit dropped to RM306.18mil from RM361.61mil in the previous corresponding period, mainly due to the lower profits of Sports Toto and its UK-based luxury car arm, H.R. Owen Plc.
Revenue increased to RM5.56bil from RM5.28bil a year earlier.
The company’s revenue increased by 5.3% due to higher revenue contribution from PGMC and H.R. Owen, while pre-tax profit dropped by 16.4% mainly due to lower profits from Sports Toto and H.R. Owen, said BToto.
The lower profit was also a result of an RM18mil stamp duty refund recorded in the previous financial year.
BToto noted that the drop in pre-tax would have been 13.5% if this stamp duty refund had been excluded.
It said Sports Toto registered a drop in pre-tax profit of 14.8% compared with the previous financial year mainly due to the impact of the goods and services tax (GST) and higher prize payouts in the current year under review.
On its prospects, BToto said with the rising cost from difficult economic conditions, the impact of the GST and increasing the number of illegal gaming activities, its directors expected the NFO business to be challenging in the current financial year ending April 30, 2017.
Nevertheless, the company said the directors were confident the company would maintain market share in the NFO business.
Separately, BToto has also declared a fourth interim dividend of 5 sen per share in respect of FY16 and payable on Aug 9.
“The entitlement date has been fixed on July 20, 2016. This will bring the total dividend distribution per share in respect of FY16 to 19 sen per share (FY15: RM21.50).
“The total dividend distribution for FY16 is RM255.2mil, representing about 83.3% of the attributable profit of the group for FY16,” said the company.
BToto shares dropped 2 sen to end Monday’s trading at RM2.90.
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