KUALA LUMPUR: Berjaya Sports Toto Bhd (BToto), which posted an 18.1% drop in net profit to RM53.26mil in the second quarter ended Dec 31 (2Q22), gas declared a second interim dividend of 1.0 sen per share.
The dividend is payable on April 22 and entitlement date has been fixed on March 31.
“The total dividend distribution for the 6-month financial period ended Dec 31 is approximately RM26.8mil, representing about 75.4% of the attributable profit of the group for the 6-month period ended Dec 31,” BToto said in a statement.
During 2Q22, BToto reported an increase in revenue of 0.9% whilst its pre-tax profit dropped by 16.4%.
The increase in revenue was attributed to higher revenue reported
by H.R. Owen Plc. This was offset by lower revenue from the group's principal subsidiary, STM Lottery Sdn Bhd (formerly known as Sports Toto Malaysia Sdn Bhd).
The drop in pre-tax profit was mainly due to STM Lottery recording a lower pre-tax profit, though mitigated by higher pre-tax profit from H.R. Owen.
In the first half to Dec 31, 2021, BToto posted a net profit of RM35.6mil on revenue of RM2.04bil.
“The directors are cautiously optimistic that the group's businesses will gradually recover with the resilient nature of the number forecast operator (NFO) business as noted in the past economic crises and turbulent periods.
“Barring any unforeseen circumstances, the directors are confident that it will maintain its lead in terms of market share in the NFO business for the financial year ending June 30 in line with the recovery of the NFO industry when the overall economy improves,” BToto said.
In a separate filing with Bursa Malaysia, BToto has proposed to change its name to Sports Toto Bhd.
The proposed name of "Sports Toto Bhd" was approved and reserved by the Companies Commission of Malaysia on Feb 21, 2022.
The proposed change of name is subject to the approval being obtained from the shareholders of the company at the forthcoming extraordinary general meeting to be convened at a date to be announced later.