KUALA LUMPUR (Mar 24): Berjaya Land Bhd's (BLand) net loss widened to RM26.64 million or 0.53 sen a share for the third financial quarter ended Jan 31, 2015 (3QFY15) from RM19.72 million or 0.4 sen a share a year ago, on lower profit contribution from its gaming business resulting from higher prize payout.

The gaming business is operated by Sports Toto Malaysia Sdn Bhd (STMSB).

This was despite revenue for 3QFY15 rising by 6.1% to RM1.47 billion from RM1.39 billion a year ago, mainly due to Berjaya Sports Toto Bhd (BToto) contributing higher revenue.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia today, BLand (fundamental: 0.55; valuation: 1.2) said its subsidiary HR Owen PLC also recorded higher revenue arising from an increase in new car sales volume from new model launches and after sales segment revenue.

The gaming business, however, recorded a marginal decrease in revenue in 3QFY15. The hotels and resorts business and the property development and investment business also reported lower revenue from overall lower occupancy rates and lower progress billings recorded respectively.

The group did not pay any dividend for 3QFY15.

The weak 3QFY15 results pulled down BLand's net profit for the nine months period (9MFY15) to RM20 million or 0.4 sen a share from RM95.44 million or 1.92 sen a share a year ago. Revenue increased 24.2% to RM4.29 billion from RM3.45 billion in 9MFY14.

BLand attributed the lower profit contribution reported by STMSB from lower revenue and and higher operating expenses, as well as lower profit contribution from its hotel and resort business from lower revenue and higher finance costs incurred.

In addition, the group realised a gain of RM94.7 million from the disposal of Berjaya Singapore Hotel in 9MFY14.

Going forward, BLand said it is cautiously optimistic that the gaming business will continue to perform satisfactorily in spite of the rising costs weighing down on domestic consumer spending and the impending implementation of the Goods and Services Tax on April 1.

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

"Given the current economic outlook, the directors are of the view that the group's performance will remain challenging in the remaining quarter of the financial
year ending April 30, 2015," said BLand.

BLand shares closed up 6.76% at 79 sen, bringing a market capitalisation of RM3.94 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.)