KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 21): Berjaya Land Bhd (BLand) saw its net profit plunge 73.7% to RM9.91 million or 0.2 sen a share for the first financial quarter ended July 31, 2015 (1QFY16) from RM37.66 million or 0.76 sen a share a year ago, on lower profit contribution from its gaming business Sports Toto Malaysia Sdn Bhd (STMSB) as a result from higher prize payout, coupled with the absorption of the goods and services tax (GST) expense.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia today, BLand said its hotels and resorts businesses also reported lower profit contribution as well as higher finance costs during the quarter under review.

However, revenue for 1QFY16 rose 7.1% to RM1.51 billion from RM1.41 billion in 1QFY15, mainly due to higher revenue from H.R. Owen Plc from having additional outlets and higher new car sales volume, as well as favourable foreign exchange effect from the group's various foreign businesses.

BLand said the improved revenue was also contributed by higher progress billings reported by its property development and investment business.

"These have offset the lower revenue reported by the gaming business operated by Sports Toto Malaysia Sdn Bhd (STMSB) and the hotels and resorts business from an overall lower occupancy rates and average room rates.

Moving forward, BLand said the gaming business is expected to be challenging in view of cautious domestic consumer spending as a result of inflationary effect on the economy and the impact of the GST being absorbed by STMSB, as well as the weakening of the ringgit.

"The performance of the hotels and resorts business is expected to remain satisfactory, while the focus of the property development business will be on its overseas development projects.

"As such, the directors are of the view that the performance of the group will continue to remain challenging in the remaining quarters of the financial year ending April 30, 2016," said BLand.

BLand shares closed unchanged at 68.5 sen today, giving it a market capitalisation of RM3.42 billion.

(Note: The Edge Research's fundamental score reflects a company’s profitability and balance sheet strength, calculated based on historical numbers. The valuation score determines if a stock is attractively valued or not, also based on historical numbers. A score of 3 suggests strong fundamentals and attractive valuations.)