KUALA LUMPUR (May 6): Berjaya Food Bhd reported a net profit of RM11.61 million for its third quarter ended March 31, 2021 (3QFY21), against a net loss of RM1.39 million a year earlier.

Noting that the second Movement Control Order (MCO 2.0) was implemented during the quarter, Berjaya Food said the group's operations were not as adversely impacted as in 3QFY20.

Quarterly revenue rose 14.6% to RM181.73 million from RM158.6 million in 3QFY20, the group's filing with Bursa Malaysia showed.

Contributing to the higher revenue was Starbucks Malaysia, which achieved higher than budgeted same-store-sales growth, the group said.

On a quarter-on-quarter basis, the 3QFY21 net profit was 4.4% higher than the RM11.12 million achieved in 2QFY21 while revenue was up 4.4% from RM174.1 million.

The board has declared a third interim dividend of one sen per share, payable on June 11. The entitlement date is May 31.

Berjaya Food said its net profit for the first nine months of FY21 grew 195% to RM33.1 million, from RM11.24 million a year ago, while revenue increased 2.6% to RM536.55 million from RM523.15 million.

The higher earnings, it said, was mainly due to effective cost management to mitigate the impact of Covid-19 and the positive effect from the closing of loss-making outlets in the previous financial year.

Berjaya Food said the operating environment will remain challenging in 4QFY21, given the unabating number of Covid-19 cases in Malaysia as well as the economic uncertainty caused by the prolonged pandemic.

Berjaya Food’s shares closed one sen or 0.51% lower at RM1.94 today, valuing the group at RM743.16 million. Over the past year, the counter has risen 70.2% from RM1.14.