Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Misleading

theSun have this article http://203.115.192.117/tuesday/tue_page15.html

  • KUALA LUMPUR: Berjaya Land Bhd’s (BLand) pre-tax profi t for the third quarter ended Jan 31, 2010 rose to RM79.7 million from RM78.9 million seen in the previous corresponding quarter.

    Revenue, however declined to RM993.9 million from RM1.158 billion, it said in a statement yesterday. It said the higher profi t contribution came from its property development division, higher share of profits from associated companies and lower finance costs, which offset the impairment loss on quoted investments and investments in associated companies as well as loss on partial disposal of investment in a subsidiary company.

    It attributed the lower revenue to lower revenue reported by the Number Forecast Operator (NFO) business operated by Berjaya Sports Toto Bhd (BToto) and the hotels and resorts division. For the nine-month period under review, the group reported a drop in revenue of about 8% whilst pre-tax profi t showed an increase of about 48% as compared to the previous year corresponding period.

    It attributed the lower revenue reported by the Number Forecast Operator (NFO) business operated by Berjaya Sports Toto Bhd (BToto) and the hotels and resorts division. For the nine-month period under review, the group reported a drop in revenue of about 8% whilst pre-tax profit showed an increase of about 48% as compared to the previous year corresponding period.

    BLand said with the property market and the hotels and resorts businesses all set to rebound given the improving economic conditions, and expected improvement in BToto’s gaming business following the launch of the Supreme Toto 6/58, which offers a guaranteed minimum upfront jackpot of RM8,888,888 – the highest in town – the group’s operating performance for the remaining quarter of the fi nancial year ending 30 April 2010
    will remain satisfactory.

Financial news talking only about pre-tax profits???????

What the heck?

Err... no need to pay taxes ah?

Anyway, here's a different version of Bland's earnings. BLand posts bigger net loss in 3Q. (Yeah, Bland reported a higher net loss!)

  • KUALA LUMPUR: Berjaya Land Bhd’s (BLand) net loss widened to RM8.57 million in its third quarter ended Jan 31, 2010 (3QFY10) from a loss of RM356,000 a year earlier on the back of lower contributions from its numbers forecasting operations (NFO) and hotels and resorts division.

    Group profit after tax rose 6.9% to RM43.42 million from RM40.62 million, but higher minority interest portion at RM512 million versus RM40.97 million previously resulted in the widening of the net loss.

    Revenue fell 14.2% to RM993.96 million from RM1.16 billion while loss per share was 0.69 sen versus loss 0.03 sen previously. No dividend was declared.

    It said lower revenue from its gaming business operated by Berjaya Sports Toto Bhd (BToto) was due to the traditionally high Chinese New Year festive sales in January 2009 combined with stronger sales from high jackpots in the Mega 6/25 game and lower revenue from its hotels and resorts division which saw cutbacks in business travel due to the global economic downturn.

    BLand said the lower revenue was partly mitigated by a two-fold increase in property sales from several successful residential and commercial development sales launches by the property development division.

    Despite the lower revenue, it said the group’s pre-tax profit was marginally higher at RM79.65 million versus RM78.89 previously mainly due to the higher profit contribution from the property development division, higher share of profits from associated companies and lower finance costs.

    It said these offset the impairment in value of quoted investments, investment in associated companies and loss on partial disposal of investment in a subsidiary company, all totalling RM12.36 million.

    For the nine months ended Jan 31, 2010, net profit was RM35.42 million versus a net loss of RM48.17 million a year earlier.

    The higher profit was attributed to higher net investment income consisting mainly of reversal of impairments in value of quoted investments in the current period arising from improved stock market conditions compared to the previous year where the group incurred substantial impairments in value of investments in associated companies and quoted securities due to poor stock market performance.

    Revenue was RM2.93 billion from RM3.18 billion while earnings per share was 2.84 sen from loss per share of 3.84 sen.

    On its prospects, it expected the property market and the hotels and resorts businesses to rebound.

    “BToto’s principal subsidiary, Sports Toto (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, had on March 18, 2010 launched its new game, Supreme Toto 6/58 in replacement of its Super Toto 6/49 game.

    “The Supreme Toto 6/58 game offers a guaranteed minimum upfront jackpot of RM8,888,888 which is the highest in town,” it said.

    “With the launch of Supreme Toto 6/58 lotto game, the directors are optimistic that the NFO business under BToto will be good in the remaining quarter of the financial year ending April 30, 2010.”


    This article appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, March 23, 2010.

Here comes the trick question. Who owns this two papers?

6 comments:

PEGGY Method said...

Financial report always like that.

Sometimes they use pretex. Sometimes 2Q2009 compare with 2Q2008, but if lower, then the they use 1H2009 vs 1H2008. Sometimes 2Q vs 1Q. Use whatever sound best.

By the way, anybody got any research on Homeritz? Couldn't find

Regards
PoliteMarket.blogspot.com

Moolah said...

Sadly.. whatever sounds the best is the norm.

So should we call this financial news?

Or should we call it best sounding financial news?

And why should we, the investing public, accept such reporting?

:/

solomon said...

In a nicer manner of saying "misleading", could we perceive the news readers here are more naive?? A big nay ya....

Well, cost cutting then? Have junior writers and tidak apa apet supervisors?? Anyhow, what u think is the root cause then, Moolah? Our tidak apa culture??

Moolah said...

Could it be the fault of a junior writer?

I dunno... but let me ask you.. which is easier to find in an earnings report: net profit/loss or pre-tax profit?

Me? The net profit/loss is right at the bottom.

Pre-tax profit? Where is it? *whistle*

Kris said...

You need a benefit of doubt, maybe the junior writer failed accounting 101.

Moolah said...

Kris,

I understand your point. Yes, I should give it a benefit of a doubt but I feel this is happening way too often. The news put out is always the 'whatever sound best' type of news.

Btw.. if this wasn't financial news but political news, how would you feel?