KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 24): Berjaya Land Bhd has managed to narrow its losses by 69.4% to RM41.88 million for its first financial quarter ended Sept 30, 2020 (1QFY21), compared to a loss of RM136.77 million in the immediate preceding quarter as the group's business segments resumed operations following the lifting of movement restrictions in the country.

Loss per share stood at 0.85 sen versus 2.77 sen in the immediate preceding quarter.

Berjaya Land said in a filing with Bursa Malaysia today that specifically, the lifting of domestic travel restrictions has boosted the revenue of its hotels and resorts business segment, particularly The Taaras Beach & Spa Resort at Pulau Redang. 

As such, quarterly revenue for the group more than doubled to RM1.46 billion from RM541.58 million in 4QFY20. 

On a year-on-year basis, however, Berjaya Land's 1QFY21 net loss came in more than six times higher compared with RM5.99 million in 1QFY20. Interestingly, revenue only declined by 7.7% against RM1.58 billion in the corresponding quarter last year.

On its prospects, Berjaya Land said it is cautiously optimistic that its number forecast operator (NFO) business will gradually recover with the fairly resilient nature of the NFO business as noted in the past economic crises and turbulent periods. 

"The directors are confident that it will continue to maintain its market share in the NFO business for the remaining quarters for the financial year ending June 30, 2021," it said. 

Meanwhile, the property development business segment is expected to be impacted by slower property sales mainly due to the expected liquidity squeeze arising from the contraction of the economy in the short term. 

On the other hand, Berjaya Land said the tourism industry was about to kick start its recovery with domestic tourism after the initial lifting of domestic travel restrictions although international travel is still restricted. 

However, the occurrence of second and third Covid-19 waves have again dampened the recovery rate of the tourism industry. 

"As such, the directors expect the occupancy rates and the revenue from events at the hotels, resorts, clubs and recreation business segments to remain low," it said.  

"Taking into account all the aforesaid, the directors expect the performance of the business operations of the group for the remaining quarters of the financial year ending June 30, 2021 to remain challenging," Berjaya Land added. 

Shares in the group were up 2.5% or 0.5 sen to close at 20.5 sen today with a market capitalisation of RM1.03 billion.