KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 30 — Genting Bhd., the flagship company of Malaysian gaming billionaire Lim Kok Thay, climbed the most in two months in Kuala Lumpur trading after saying it will pay a 50 sen special cash dividend.

The stock rose as much as 3.5 per cent before trading 3.2 per cent higher at RM9.47 as of 10:30am, heading for the steepest advance since June 26. It was the biggest gainer on the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI Index, which increased 0.7 per cent. Genting Plantations Bhd., the group’s palm oil unit, jumped as much as 5.3 per cent after saying it will pay a special dividend of 44 sen per share.

Genting declared the special dividend even as it reported a 13 per cent drop in second-quarter profit yesterday. The company, based in Kuala Lumpur, also proposed to sell one warrant for every four shares held at RM1.50 apiece, it said. The warrants could raise as much as RM7.4 billion if fully exercised, said Yin Shao Yang, an analyst at Malayan Banking Bhd.

“This will enable Genting to expand by itself rather than via Genting Singapore and Genting Malaysia,” Yin said in a report today.

The special dividend is the company’s first since it paid 30 sen a share in 2007, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The Genting group of companies has been investing to expand abroad, from the Bahamas to Manila, amid restrictions on gaming back home in Muslim-majority Malaysia, where it operates the country’s only casino on a hilltop.

Monitoring Japan

Genting Malaysia Bhd., another of Lim’s five listed companies, said last month it will spend at least RM3 billion over five years to upgrade its Malaysian resort. It will add 1,300 hotel rooms and spend RM400 million transforming its theme park after signing a licensing agreement with Twentieth Century Fox Consumer Products, the billionaire said.

The subsidiary opened a casino at the Aqueduct Racetrack in New York in October, controls casino operators in the UK and owns Resorts World Sentosa, one of Singapore’s two gambling resorts.

The group’s Singapore unit “is monitoring the developments on the passing of gaming legislation in Japan and is prepared to invest in an integrated resort in Japan when the opportunity arises,” it said. A resort is planned for Birmingham in the UK in mid-2015, Genting said.

Net income for the three months ended June 30 fell to RM466.3 million, or 12.62 sen a share, from RM534.5 million, or 14.47 sen, a year earlier, Genting said in a filing to the Kuala Lumpur stock exchange. Revenue increased 3.4 per cent to RM4.46 billion.

The lower profit was partly due to higher depreciation, and lower fair value gains on derivative financial instruments, the company said. Genting booked a loss on its joint ventures and associate companies during the period compared with a profit a year earlier, it said. — Bloomberg