Sri Lankan stocks end weaker on low turnover

Dec 4 (Reuters) - Sri Lankan stocks ended weaker on Thursday, erasing early gains as investors sold select shares and on caution due to political uncertainty ahead of the Jan. 8 presidential poll, analysts said.

The main stock index fell 0.27 percent, or 19.63 points, to close at 7,254.80.

Nine loyalists from President Mahinda Rajapaksa's United People's Freedom Alliance, including Health Minister Mithripala Sirisena, have defected since he announced a snap poll on Nov. 20. Sirisena is contesting against Rajapaksa as the consensus candidate of a united opposition.

Speculation that more could defect in the coming days and likely violence ahead of polling also weighed on sentiment, analysts said.

"People are in a wait-and-see approach. They may be waiting until nominations are filed next week to see the trend," said Dimantha Mathew, manager - research, First Capital Equities (pvt) Ltd.

Turnover stood at 865.5 million rupees ($6.6 million) on Thursday, exchange data showed, well below this year's daily average of 1.44 billion rupees.

Foreign investors net bought 665.2 million rupees worth of shares on Thursday, extending purchases during the year to 21.56 billion rupees, exchange data showed.

Analysts expect volatility to continue and the overall index to be flat until the elections on Jan. 8.

Carson Cumberbatch Plc led the fall, ended 4.54 percent weaker, while Ceylinco Insurance Plc fell 8.09 percent.

Lanka IOC Plc fell 3.84 percent.

($1 = 131.0000 Sri Lankan rupee) 

(Reporting by Ranga Sirilal; Editing by Prateek Chatterjee)

Sri Lanka’s HNB debenture issue oversubscribed

Dec 04, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Hatton National Bank (HNB) Plc.’s said the offer of 30,000,000, senior unsecured, redeemable, rated debenture oversubscribed Thursday and is closing on the same day.

The Bank offered the debt with an option to issue up to a maximum of 40,000,000 of the said debenture in the event of an over-subscription of the initial issue.

“We wish to inform you that we have received applications for over three billion rupees for the above debenture issue by Hatton National bank Plc and accordingly the initial issues has been oversubscribed.” the bank said in a stock exchange filling.

The issue closed at 4.30 pm today as per the prospects and the basis of allotment will be notified to the CSE in due course, the bank said.

Softlogic confirms Rs 3.5B odel mall

By Charumini de Silva

Ceylon Finance Today: Softlogic Holdings confirmed an investment of Rs 3.5 billion to put up its latest shopping mall adjoining the Odel flagship Store capitalizing on the booming retail sector.

"The new shopping mall will be constructed on a 300-perch land at Alexandra Place, Colombo 7 and the project is scheduled to be completed within the next three years, Softlogic Group Chairman/ Managing Director Ashok Pathirage told Ceylon FT yesterday.

The fast tracked retail expansion strategy pursued by the group made the company a keyplayer in the retail industry.

The retail arm of the Softlogic Group was confident that with the country's economy thriving at a rapid pace, they could play a keyrole in making Sri Lanka a retail hotspot in the region, Pathirage said He said the landscape of the country's retail market would see a dramatic change within the next two to three years as it had huge potential to grow.


"The high-end consumer segment is expanding in a remarkable manner. With the introduction of global fashion icons such as Levis, Nike, Giordano, Mango, Mothercare, French Connection, Splash, Tommy Hilfiger, Charles & Keith and Dockers, we saw an upward trend in our sales, which was a draw back in the retail industry some years ago. 

However, with our multi-brand, multi-channel strategy allows us to stay ahead of evolving consumer preferences by giving the consumers a choice of diverse brands, products and special offers," Pathirage added. He further said that they wish to facilitate original brands for Sri Lankans and for tourists, so that international brands were available to people locally. This would also enable tourists to do more shopping with familiar brands in the country without limiting their holiday experience to a hotel stay," he said.

There is great potential to make Sri Lanka as a shopping destination, but still we are losing out a large number of shopping travellers to countries like Dubai," he explained.
Pathirage said the country would develop, and the private sector would take the leadership, irrespective of the imminent political landscape.
www.ceylontoday.lk

Capital Alliance records strong performance in 1H

Capital Alliance Ltd. (CALT), the leading primary dealer in government securities, recorded a profit after tax (PAT) of Rs. 555.87 million for the first half of the FY 2014/2015 ending 30 September 2014.

Strong partnerships with clients combined with an in-depth understanding of their needs, helped CALT to consistently add value to all client investments in H1 of 2014. CALT’s strong performance was also a result of the aggressive trading strategy the company adopted, which was supported by favourable market conditions created by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.

More relaxed monetary policies combined with lower inflation rates and greater liquidity in the market helped the company perform at its optimum.

With an increase in profitability of Rs. 557.03 million from H1 of the previous financial year, CALT has matured into a highly innovative and strategic force in Sri Lanka’s trading arena. The company concentrated heavily on continuous staff training in H1 of 2014, developing a team of dynamic market leaders who are well-equipped to meet the challenges of an ever-changing trading climate.

Additionally, a variety of clients from a cross-section of industries joined CALT’s prestigious client portfolio, enabling the business to grow exponentially in a short period of time.

The company reported a net interest income of Rs. 79.28 million, a 4.52 % increase from the same period of the previous year.

CALT also recoded total capital gains of Rs. 633.31 million, a drastic increase from the loss of 29.76 million made in the previous first half of the year. CALT recorded impressive growth in income from operating activities which was reported at Rs. 712.45 million.

Following the momentum of growth, the company’s total assets were valued at Rs. 7.99 billion, an 18% increase from H1 of the previous year. The total shareholder’s fund for the company grew by 101 % to Rs. 1.4 billion and the earnings per share were recorded at Rs. 37.06 and investment in Government instruments was noted at Rs. 7.80 billion.

Commenting on the company’s financial performance, CALT Chief Executive Officer Gihan Hemachandra stated: “Our team has performed exceptionally well once again in the first half of this financial year, using aggressive strategies, research and well-calculated decisions to secure success in the dealing room. At CALT, our employees are our main asset and our clients are our main priority. We invested heavily this year in ensuring that our team was up-to-date with the latest technology, knowledge and expertise in the trading sphere.

“This level of training helps our team to perform at its very best and also enables us to deliver a world-class service and high returns to our clients. Our core strength is dealing in government bonds and in H1 of 2014. We used these skills to diversify our business into new areas such as corporate debt. By doing this we were able to enhance our trading opportunities and penetrate new markets. We identified new market opportunities in a timely manner and were able to secure high investment returns for our clients. Looking to the future, CALT will focus on further exploring other segments and alternative markets as well.”

CALT has gradually evolved into a multi-faceted organisation offering a sophisticated selection of structured government debt-based instruments including treasury bills, treasury bonds, repurchase agreements and reverse purchase agreements, corporate debt, leverage bond trading and interest rate swaps.

CALT is Sri Lanka’s first registered corporate debt dealer in the primary dealer category and is one of six non-bank licensed primary dealers in the country.
www.ft.lk