KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 18): Berjaya Sports Toto Bhd (BToto) incurred a net loss of RM43.27 million for the fourth quarter ended June 30, 2020 (4QFY20), compared with a net profit of RM48.61 million recorded in the preceding quarter, no thanks to the pandemic-driven lockdowns implemented in various countries, which caused it to temporarily halt its business operations.
Revenue for the quarter was down 64.37% quarter-on-quarter to RM475.06 million from RM1.33 billion, the group said in a Bursa Malaysia filing. No comparison figures were provided with the corresponding quarter a year ago, following a change in its financial year end from April 30 to June 30.
Its cumulative net profit for the 12 months ended June 30 came to RM134.24 million, on a revenue of RM4.65 billion.
The group declared a third interim dividend involving a share distribution of about 13.5 million treasury shares on the basis of one treasury share for every 100 existing ordinary shares held on Sept 24. Based on the treasury share book cost of RM31.8 million, the share dividend is equivalent to approximately 2.4 sen per share.
This will bring the total cash and share dividend distribution in respect of FY20 to 10.4 sen per share, versus the 16 sen it paid in the 14 months ended June 30, 2019 (FY19).
In a press statement, the group said its subsidiary Sports Toto Malaysia Sdn Bhd (Sports Toto) saw 40 draws being cancelled, following the implementation of the MCO since March. The number forecast operator (NFO)’s business was only allowed to resume on June 17.
In the United Kingdom (UK), the group's auto retailing business operated by H.R. Owen Plc (H.R. Owen) had to also shut its operations for over two months to comply with the UK's lockdown order from March 23 to May 31. It only resumed business operation on June 1.
Moving forward, BToto's directors are cautiously optimistic on expectations that the group's businesses will gradually recover with the fairly resilient nature of the NFO business, as was seen in past economic crises and turbulent periods.
BToto's share price closed unchanged at RM2.09 today, giving it a market capitalisation of RM2.80 billion. Some 573,00 shares were traded.