BToto to pay 5 sen dividend in first quarter

PETALING JAYA: Berjaya Sports Toto Bhd (BToto), which posted a 7.7% jump in revenue for the first quarter ended July 31, 2015 (Q1), declared its first interim dividend of 5 sen per share for Q1.

The board has declared a first interim single tier exempt cash dividend of 2.5 sen per share and a share dividend distribution of 9.57 million treasury shares on the basis of 1 treasury share for every 140 existing ordinary shares of 10 sen each held.

Based on the treasury share book cost of RM32.98 million (equivalent to RM3.45 per share), the share dividend is equivalent to 2.5 sen per share based on the ordinary shares in issue with voting rights as at Sept 16, 2015 of 1.34 billion. Hence, the total first interim dividend would be equivalent to 5 sen per share.

The entitlement date has been fixed on Oct 12, 2015. The cash dividend is payable on Oct 23, 2015 and the treasury shares to be distributed as share dividend will be credited into the entitled depositors’ securities accounts maintained with Bursa Malaysia Depository Sdn Bhd within eight market days from the entitlement date.

The first interim dividend distribution for the financial year ending April 30, 2016 will amount to RM66.5 million, representing about 91.7% of the attributable profit of the group for the first quarter ended July 31, 2015.

BToto’s Q1 revenue jumped 7.7% to RM1.34 billion from RM1.24 billion a year ago, mainly attributed to the results of H.R. Owen Plc.

Its pre-tax profit decreased by 6.4% to RM112.98 million from RM120.69 million mainly due to the results of its principal subsidiary, Sports Toto Malaysia Sdn Bhd, which recorded a decrease in revenue and pre-tax profit of 1.5% and 23.6% respectively as compared to the previous year’s corresponding quarter. The higher drop in pre-tax profit was mainly due to higher prize payout coupled with the Goods and Services Tax (GST) expenses absorbed by Sports Toto in the current quarter under review.

“In view of cautious domestic consumer spending as a result of inflationary effect on the economy and the impact of GST expenses being absorbed by the group, the directors expect the numbers forecasting operations (NFO) business to be challenging for the remaining quarters of the financial year ending April 30, 2016. In spite of the above, the directors expect the group to maintain its market share in the NFO business,” BToto said in a statement yesterday.