Berjaya Assets Bhd (BAssets) says its hotel, mall and gaming businesses will remain affected due to the unprecedented Covid-19 pandemic, and will adversely impact the remaining quarter of its current financial year.
It said based on the assumption that the conditional movement control order (CMCO) ends on June 9, 2020, and that all business operators are allowed to resume operations on June 10 onwards, the gaming business will effectively have only nine draws and the theme park operations will have about 20 business days during the fourth quarter ending 30 June 2020.
"The substantially reduced business days will adversely impact the fourth-quarter results of these companies," it said in a filing with Bursa Malaysia.
The group said its two shopping malls Berjaya Times Square Mall, Kuala Lumpur, and Berjaya Waterfront Complex in Johor have resumed full business operations during CMCO.
But nevertheless, it expects the footfall to the malls will remain low due to the general public still being wary of Covid-19 infection.
"The low footfall may create downward pressure on rental collections and revenue," it said.
Both the malls had granted rental relief (of which 14-day relief period fell in the third quarter and another 14-day relief falls in the fourth quarter) to eligible tenants during these challenging times.
As for the hotel business segment, BAssets expects that the occupancy rates and the revenue from events will remain low for Berjaya Waterfront Hotel in Johor Bharu arising from low tourist arrivals coupled with new social distancing rules during the pandemic.
"In view of these factors and the immense challenges created by the pandemic, the group is unable to forecast with certainty, when its business operations will return to the level prior to the Covid-19 pandemic," it said.
The hotel has been operating as a quarantine centre for returning Malaysians from overseas, earning room sales of RM150 per room per day during the mandatory quarantine period.
BAssets registered revenue of RM63.9 million and a pre-tax loss of RM9.3 million in the current quarter ended March 31, 2020, as compared to revenue of RM75.4 million and pre-tax profit of RM4.7 million reported in the previous year corresponding quarter.
The lower group revenue was mainly due to the cancellation of six draws by the gaming business, lower food and beverage sales, lower sales of theme park tickets from the hotel and recreation business segments arising from the closure of business operations for 14 days in March during the MCO period.
The property development and property investment business segment reported lower rental income, mainly due to the 14-day rental relief granted to its eligible tenants who were also unable to operate during the MCO period.
"Prior to the imposition of MCO, the group's business segments were already affected by lower sales, cancellation of events and room sales primarily due to the growing Covid-19 pandemic concerns of the general public," it said.
BAssets said the lower revenue registered has resulted in the group incurring a pre-tax loss in the current quarter.
In addition, the group also equity accounted for a share of losses from its associated companies and joint ventures in this current quarter under review.
For the cumulative nine months ended March 31, 2020, the group registered a revenue of RM210.6 million and a pre-tax loss of RM4.1 million as compared to revenue of RM228.5 million and a pre-tax profit of RM4.3 million reported in the preceding year corresponding period.
The pre-tax loss in the current nine-month period under review was primarily due to lower contribution from all the group's business segments, as a result of lower revenue registered and lower share of profits from associated companies.