Looking Back At Berjaya Land: Part II

It's now Feb 2008.

05-02-2008: BLand raises stake in BToto to 48.96%

• KUALA LUMPUR: Berjaya Land Bhd (BLand) has raised its stake in Berjaya Sports Toto Bhd (BToto) to 48.96% as of yesterday from 48.76% on Jan 21, mainly due to the acquisition of one million BToto shares by a BLand subsidiary and BToto’s recent share buyback of three million shares.
  
  In a statement yesterday, BLand said the number of shares that had been bought back and retained as treasury shares was 93 million, while the number of shares with voting rights was 1.26 billion. BToto’s paid-up capital now stood at RM135.1 million comprising 1.35 billion shares of 10 sen each.
  
  BLand said several other subsidiaries of Berjaya Corporation Bhd (BCorp), the holding company of BLand, also had a total interest of 1.11% in BToto.
  
  “As BCorp group’s interest in aggregation with BLand group’s interest in BToto is now more than 50%, BToto will be deemed as a subsidiary of BLand,” the statement said.

20-02-2008: BLand unit places out ICULS to Goldman Sachs at RM250m

• KUALA LUMPUR: Berjaya Land Bhd’s (BLand) unit, Immediate Capital Sdn Bhd (ICSB), has placed out 50 million units of irredeemable convertible unsecured loans stocks (ICULS) 1999/2009 to Goldman Sachs International at RM5 per ICULS or a total of RM250 million cash, said BLand in a statement yesterday.
  
  The placement, which was carried out through a direct business transaction, would result in a gain of RM200 million, said the company.....

The company continued wheeling and dealing.

27 Feb 2008: BLand unit buys more stake in Piccolo owner

24th March 2008: Quarterly rpt on consolidated results for the financial period ended 31/1/2008, Berjaya Land announced a net profit of 115.057 million.

• ... pre-tax profit of the Group was mainly due to the recognition of gain on disposal of investment properties (KL Plaza properties by Noble Circle (M) Sdn Bhd and Sinar Merdu Sdn Bhd) amounting to RM140.0 million.

Yeah, despite being aided by the extra gain in disposal of property amounting to 140 million, Berjaya Land's net earnings was only 115.057 million.

And the wheeling continued. 30th April 2008: Berjaya in RM11b joint venture

20th June 2008: Quarterly rpt on consolidated results for the financial period ended 30/4/2008

Berjaya Land earnings soars to 627 million. Again it was NOT impressive! As stated by Berjaya Land in its earnings.

• The significant increase in pre-tax profit of the Group was mainly due to recognition of the gain on placements of 150 million units of 5% ICULS 1999/2009 amounting to approximately RM598.9 million and the recognition of negative goodwill amounting to RM34 million arising from several business combinations.

Gains made by Berjaya Land from its ICUL and the negative goodwill was already more than its quarterly earnings. What about Berjaya Land own core business? No contributions at all?

Let's look at the chart now.

July 2nd 2008: Vietnam project set to boost BLand property division

• HO CHI MINH CITY: Berjaya Land Bhd (BLand) expects its property segment to contribute up to 50% of total earnings in about four years.
  
  This will be backed by its largest overseas project, the US$7.5bil Vietnam International University Township (VIUT)....

Market now reacted negatively. Berjaya Land went from 4.28 to close at 3.98 on 2nd July 2008.

What to do now?

Share buybacks were the answer according to Berjaya Land.

31st July 2008: Notice of Shares Buy Back - Immediate Announcement. Berjaya Land paid between 4.36 and 4.40 for the first of its many buybacks. Do look where this spot is marked in the chart later. (do note the conversion of ICULS is still happening all this while)

Sept 16th 2008: Berjaya Land in US$2b Libyan foray

Sept 19th 2008: Quarterly rpt on consolidated results for the financial period ended 31/7/2008

Net earnings was only 683 thousand! Stock closed at 4.00 on the 19th. All quiet from ECM Libra and SJ Securities.

21st October 2008: BLand may put projects on hold

• KUALA LUMPUR: Property company Berjaya Land Bhd may put some of its projects on hold due to the current bearish market sentiment but is still confident of generating some RM350mil in property sales in its financial year ending April 30, 2009, said chief executive officer Datuk Francis Ng.
  
  But the company’s huge projects in Vietnam would not be affected, Ng said, pointing out he expected the property slowdown in Vietnam to be short term.
  
  “We will proceed with our Vietnam ventures because it is a long term investment,” he said, adding that the company’s four property development projects in Vietnam were worth about US$2.5bil in gross development value (GDV)....

I do understand the rational to put these projects on hold.

3 November 2008 Berjaya Jeju Resort slated to be launched in first quarter 2009

• BERJAYA Jeju Resort, which will be developed into a world-class integrated tourism and recreational destination on the honeymoon island of Jeju, will mark Berjaya Land Bhd’s (BLand) entry into South Korea’s property market when the project is launched in the first quarter of next year...

3 November 2008 High growth in BLand overseas ventures

• ....While cautious of the impact of the global financial meltdown on the property market, chief executive officer Datuk Framcis Ng said: “We are invested in these countries for the long term and we have confidence that these countries are resilient enough to weather the downturn and recover when the global economy picks up in time.”He does not discount the need to slow down or defer some of the company’s projects if the demand is not there....

Berjaya Land shares is now worth only 3.62...

17th December 2008: Quarterly rpt on consolidated results for the financial period ended 31/10/2008

• 18-12-2008: BLand posts RM48.5m 2Q loss
  
  KUALA LUMPUR: Berjaya Land Bhd (BLand) slips into red in the second quarter ended Oct 31, 2008 (2QFY09), posting a net loss of RM48.5 million in a sharp reversal from a net profit of RM325.4 million a year earlier.
  
  At pre-tax level, its profit fell 85% to RM49 million from RM329 million a year earlier.
  
  This was mainly due to lower progress billings and rental contributions from the hotels and resorts division, as well as additional impairment in value of investments in an associated company as well as certain quoted investments arising from the stock market downturn.
  
  Additionally, the previous year’s results included a total exceptional gain of RM378.8 million arising from the placement of 170 million 5% ICULS 1999/2009, disposal of Berjaya Corporation Bhd ICULS 2005/2015 and the divestments of Berjaya Hotels & Resorts (Mauritius) Ltd and Berjaya Mahe Beach (Cayman) Ltd.
  
  Revenue came in at RM1.06 billion versus RM175.6 million previously mainly due to the consolidation of Berjaya Sports Toto Bhd (BToto) as a subsidiary company effective February 2008.
  
  For the first half ended Oct 31, its net loss stood at RM47.82 million versus a net profit of RM363.5 million a year earlier. No dividend was declared.
  
  BLand said its directors took recognisance of the prevailing global economic conditions arising from the financial meltdown in the West and its contagion effect on the regional and Malaysian economies.

By now, Berjaya Land was trading around 3.28.

And Berjaya Land still continued its share buybacks...

Here's one announcement dated 27th Feb 2009. Notice of Shares Buy Back - Immediate Announcement. Price paid was between 2.98 and 3.00.

Remember back on 31st July 2008, Berjaya Land initial buyback was between 4.36 and 4.40!

Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!

Last night Berjaya Land announced its earnings.


And Bernama decides to talk about pretax profit.....???

• Saturday March 21, 2009
  
  Berjaya Land Q3 pre-tax profit down
  
  BERJAYA Land Bhd (BLand) says its pre-tax profit in the third quarter ended Jan 31 fell to RM78.9mil from RM122.3mil in the previous corresponding period.
  
  The lower pre-tax profit was mainly due to lower progress billings from the property development division and lower rental income from the property investment division, it says in a statement.
  
  In addition, the group recorded an exceptional gain of RM97.6mil from the disposal of the KL Plaza properties in the previous corresponding quarter, it says.
  
  BLand, however, reported a big jump in revenue to RM1.16bil from RM181.18mil, which it attributes mainly due to the consolidation of Berjaya Sports Toto Bhd (BToto) as a subsidiary company effective February 2008.
  
  For the nine months ended Jan 31, its pre-tax profit fell to RM211.6mil from RM484.8mil in the previous corresponding period while revenue rose to RM3.18bil from RM506.9mil previously.
  
  BLand expects the prevailing global economic conditions to affect the group’s hotel, resort and property development business in the remaining quarter of the financial year ending April 30.
  
  However, the numbers forecast operator business under BToto is expected to remain resilient, it adds. – Bernama

And I end my story on Berjaya Land for now with the chart of Berjaya Land since 2007.

Yeah, Berjaya Land last traded at 2.93. (see Looking Back At Berjaya Land: Part I )