Tanjong plc expects the higher betting duty to drag its net profit down by RM15mil for the current financial year ending Jan 31 (FY11).
“We are exploring various options to mitigate the increase in duty. We are now talking to the Finance Ministry and discussing with the other numbers forecast operators (NFOs),” its entertainment division chief executive officer Goh Seow Eng said after the company AGM yesterday.
He said the discussions, which started about two weeks ago, considered options that included a cut in the prize payout ratio but no timeline was set among the NFOs.
“If we are not successful in mitigating this (higher betting duty), the total impact is RM15mil to the group’s net profit for the entire year,” he said. For FY10, the company registered a net profit of RM748.5mil against RM548.6mil in FY09.
Tanjong, Berjaya Sports Toto Bhd and Multi-Purpose Holdings Bhd are the three main NFOs in the market. The Government recently increased the pool betting duty to 8% of net revenue from 6% previously.
Analysts had pointed out that the reduction in prize payout might affect the NFOs business as customers could opt for unlicensed offerings that maintained the old payout ratio.
On Tanjong’s power business, Tanjong Energy Holdings Sdn Bhd executive director/chief executive officer Dr Ong Peng Su said the company was looking to expand its assets in the Middle East, North Africa, South Asia and South-East Asia as well as Malaysia.
“There are a lot of activities, especially greenfield projects, in this region and we are looking for both merger and acquisition opportunities and greenfield projects,” he said, adding that the company was working hard on asset acquisitions but was not able to disclose anything at the moment.
The company has 13 power plants and a net generating capacity of 3,951 megawatt (MW), which it targets to double in four to five years.
“Overall, this is a very healthy industry. There was a slowdown during the financial crisis but those projects that were delayed have started coming into the market,” Ong said.
On talk that Tanjong might be interested to acquire 21.45% of Mudajaya Group Bhd from Mulpha Infrastructure Holdings Sdn Bhd, Tanjong chairman Datuk Robert Cheim said the company had no intention of acquiring a significant stake in Mudajaya at this point of time.
However, both companies were working to bid for power plant projects in India, Ong said.
On the AGM that lasted over four hours, Cheim said the poll for the last resolution took time.
The resolution was on the proposed adoption of new articles of association, which included the increase in the maximum amount of directors’ fees per annum to RM1mil from £100,000.
Cheim said the minority shareholders’ concern was whether the proposed increase in directors’ fees and the change of currency should have been be tabled as separate resolutions.
“We are changing that article and since this section is part of the article, we decided to do it all (the amendments) in one (resolution),” he said.
by thestar.com.my
No comments:
Post a Comment