WHILE many businesses that suffered losses due to the movement control order have ceased operations, some have chosen to go on despite being in the red. Numbers forecast operator (NFO), Magnum Bhd is one of them.
It posted a total revenue of RM50.6 mil for the second quarter ended June 30, 2020, which is RM615.8 million lower than the previous year’s corresponding quarter of RM666.4 mil.
In line with lower revenue, the group has registered a loss before tax of RM24.7 mil as compared to RM104.6 mil profit before tax recorded in the previous year’s corresponding quarter.
The NFO has said that the lower group revenue and pre-tax loss was mainly due to its gaming division, which charted a significant 92.4% drop in sales for the second quarter at RM50.5 mil against the RM666.2 mil posted in the previous year’s corresponding quarter.
It said the slip was mainly due to continued closure of outlets from 1 April 2020 until 16 June 2020, in compliance with the movement control order, which resulted in cancellation of 34 draws in the second quarter.
Due to the lower gaming sales, the division made a pre-tax loss of RM23.8 mil compared to RM103.2 mil pre-tax profit recorded in the previous year’s corresponding quarter.
Despite making losses, the group declared a second interim dividend via the distribution of about 14.23 mil treasury shares, on the basis of one treasury share for every 100 existing shares held, in respect of the financial year ending Dec 31, 2020.
This will be credited to shareholders on Sept 25, 2020.
In a March 2017, Focus Malaysia reported that shareholders and investors had been concerned about the NFO’s declining revenue and profit year-on-year for the past five years.
The report stated minority shareholders argued that despite both revenue and dividend declining, the average dividend yield has also been declining over the years. – Sept 11, 2020
