KUALA LUMPUR (March 18): Berjaya Sports Toto Bhd’s (BToto) net profit for its third quarter ended Jan 31, 2019 (3QFY19) came in flat at RM59.07 million, compared with RM59.23 million in the year-ago quarter.

Pre-tax profit, however, decreased 4.4% to RM94.43 million, from RM98.77 million previously, mainly due to lower results of Philippine Gaming Management Corp (PGMC) and Sports Toto Malaysia Sdn Bhd, but mitigated by improved results from HR Owen Plc, the group said in a stock exchange filing today.

Quarterly revenue contracted 3% to RM1.36 billion from RM1.4 billion previously, due to lower sales from the the used car segment at HR Owen, and lower contribution from PGMC.

The board declared a third interim dividend of 3.5 sen, payable on May 10, bringing its to-date cumulative dividend to 11.5 sen from 12 sen in the previous corresponding period.

BToto said Sports Toto’s pre-tax profit fell 6.2% in 3QFY19, primarily due to higher prize payout, while PGMC reported a pre-tax profit decline of 65.8% on lower lease rental income earned from the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office.

These were mitigated by improved sales from the new car segment which helped push HR Owen’s pre-tax profit up by 36.4%.

For the nine-month period (9MFY19), Berjaya Sports Toto’s net profit grew 5.6% on year to RM206.25 million from RM195.28 million a year ago, although cumulative revenue contracted 1.1% to RM4.21 billion from RM4.26 billion.

BToto anticipates its number forecast operator business to perform satisfactorily for the remaining quarter of its financial year ending April 30, 2019.

BToto shares rose four sen or 1.72% to close at RM2.37 today, valuing the group at RM3.19 billion.