BCorp leaps back to profitability

Berjaya Corp Bhd’s (BCorp) fortunes turned around in the fourth quarter (4Q) as the conglomerate leapt back into profitability, helped by a higher turnover, investment income, and gains from associate companies.

In a statement to the exchange yesterday, BCorp, controlled by tycoon Tan Sri Vincent Tan Chee Yioun, said net profit in the 4Q ended April this year came to RM144.94 million or 3.41 sen a share, compared to a net loss of RM113.91 million a year earlier.

Revenue rose 25.2 % to RM1.89 billion from RM1.51 billion while profit before tax (PBT) came to RM299.21 million compared to a loss before tax of RM37.52 million.

BCorp said its 4Q revenue was mainly helped by consumer marketing, direct selling, automotive distribution divisions, besides the group’s real estate, hospitality, insurance and stockbroking operations.

The conglomerate’s full-year net profit reached RM83.5 million or 2.05 sen a share compared to a net loss of RM53.38 million as revenue rose 6.9% to RM6.78 billion from RM6.34 billion. PBT more than doubled to RM613.14 million from RM274.56 million.

“The increase in the current year’s revenue mainly resulted from the higher contributions from the consumer marketing business, higher general insurance premium income and higher brokerage income (from stockbroking business), due to the more active stock market,” BCorp said.

Excluding the non-cash equity dilution effect of RM223.13 million, BCorp said its PBT would have been RM836.27 million, more than triple the preceding year’s figure.

In quarterly terms, BCorp’s 4Q numbers turned around from a net loss of RM155.12 million in the preceding third quarter as revenue grew 13.9% from RM1.66 billion.

The conglomerate declared a dividend of one sen a share for the quarter in review.

Looking ahead, BCorp said its performance for the current year ending April 2011 was expected to be good against a backdrop of an improving economic environment.

The conglomerate foresees that its consumer marketing, property development, hospitality, gaming and direct selling businesses will gain from a recovering broader landscape.

BCorp made news early this week when it aborted its planned acquisition of a 70% stake in gaming entity Ascot Sports Sdn Bhd from Tan following the government’s decision not to reissue the sports betting licence to Ascot.

Shares of BCorp closed unchanged at RM1.27 yesterday, valuing the conglomerate at RM5.33 billion. The stock has declined 0.9% this year, underperforming the FBM KLCI’s 3.2% gain. Its net assets per share stood at RM1.40 as at April this year.


This article appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, July 1, 2010.