Genting Bhd announced its half-year to June net profit fell 20 percent to RM307.23 million partly because its leisure and hospitality business was hit by the Sars outbreak.

Sales for the six months came to RM2 billion compared to RM1.77 billion a year ago while pretax profit was RM686.18 million against RM783.25 million.

For the second quarter, net profit amounted to RM111.63 million as opposed to RM205.94 million while sales were up at RM1.02 billion from RM869.83 million a year ago.

In notes accompanying the results, Genting said the higher sales in the second quarter were mainly attributable to higher crude palm oil (CPO) prices and proceeds arising from the disposal of quoted securities.

Money from power division

The revenue for the second quarter also included RM176.5 million from the power division, contributed by Genting Sanyen Power Sdn Bhd (GSP), which became an indirect 60 percent-owned subsidiary of the company in March.

It said revenue from the leisure and hospitality division was lower during the second quarter due mainly to the adverse effects of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars) outbreak in the region.

Genting said its pretax profit had also been affected by losses in associated companies "mainly attributable to the share of losses of RM37.4 million and RM39.7 million for the current quarter and first half respectively from Star Cruises Limited."

The decreases in pretax profit were, however, offset by increased profit from the plantations division, paper division and the oil and gas division, Genting said.

On prospects, Genting said since the outbreak of Sars in the region has been brought under control, the operating business conditions for the leisure and hospitality division were expected to recover and to be satisfactory for the rest of the year.

Newly-acquired oil palm estates along with overall improvement in yields were expected to boost FFB production of the plantations division and the performance of the other divisions in the group is expected to be satisfactory for the current financial year, Genting said. - AFP