KUALA LUMPUR: Sports Toto Bhd (SPToto) net profit rose more than four-fold year-on-year to RM79.56mil for the third quarter ended March 31 from RM18.68mil.
Its revenue surged 54% to RM1.73bil during the quarter from RM1.12bil last year.
“The higher revenue and pre-tax profit were primarily attributed to higher results reported by its principal subsidiary, STM Lottery Sdn Bhd (formerly known as Sports Toto Malaysia Sdn Bhd), as well as from H.R. Owen Plc (H.R. Owen),” SPToto said in a statement.
STM Lottery registered a revenue growth of 70.3% despite having a lower number of draws in the current quarter under review, mainly due to better sales from its lotto games resulting from higher accumulated jackpot prizes coupled with stronger sales during the festive period in February 2022.
Furthermore, the previous year’s corresponding quarter was also impacted by the second Movement Control Order (MCO 2.0) which was in effect from Jan 13 to Feb 18, 2021 in all states in Malaysia whereby all outlets were closed except for those in Sarawak.
Its pre-tax profit rose by 262.0% in the current quarter under review in line with the higher revenue achieved coupled with a lower prize payout, SPToto said.
H.R. Owen recorded a revenue growth of 41.6% in the current quarter to RM895.1mil from RM632.1mil reported in the corresponding quarter of the previous year, whilst its pre-tax profit increased by 64.3% to RM36.3mil in the current quarter as compared to RM22.1mil in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.
The company’s operations in the previous year’s corresponding quarter were negatively impacted by the third national lockdown in the United Kingdom from Jan 5 to April 12, 2021.
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. The entitlement date has been fixed on June 30.
For the first nine months to March 31, SPToto posted a net profit of RM115.15mil, down 24% from RM151.59mil a year ago, while revenue rose to RM3.77bil against RM3.7bil a year prior.
“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 in line with the recovery of the NFO industry when the overall economy improves,” SPToto said.
