Aitken Spence to buy 20-pct stake in Fiji Ports Corporation

(LBO) – Sri Lanka’s diversified conglomerate Aitken Spence and Fiji National Provident Fund is planning to buy 59 percent stake in Fiji Ports Corporation, Aitken Spence said in a stock exchange filing.

An agreement has been signed with the Fiji government to acquire the corporation, an entity wholly owned by the government which manages all ports in Fiji.

Aitken Spence alone will invest 34.6 Fijian Dollars to acquire 20 percent of the corporation subject to necessary approvals.

Sri Lanka to suspend one off, retrospective taxes: PM

ECONOMYNEXT - Sri Lanka will suspend one-off and retrospective taxes introduced during an interim budget in 2015, Prime Minister Ranil Wicrkramasinghe said.

"One of taxes that was subject to controversy to be suspended, (vivardayater luckwoo, ekwarak pamanak aya karana badoo athhitoowanawar)" he said.

"Retrospective taxes that undermined business confidence to be suspended (vyaparer vishwasaneeyathwaya doobaler kireemeter hethuwaner atheethayater balaparner badhoo athhituweemer."

The 'super gains tax' was no longer needed because general consumption has now started, Wickramasinghe told parliament. The tax was supposed to have been paid in several instalments.

Sri Lanka shares end firmer; PM's statement seen boosting stocks

Reuters: Sri Lankan stocks ended firmer on Thursday led by blue chips, and stockbrokers expect the market to react positively to the prime minister's medium-term economic policy statement, which focused on raising revenue through reforms.

The main stock index ended 0.2 percent higher at 7,017.39.

The day's turnover was 779.8 million rupees ($5.51 million), less than the year's daily average of 1.1 billion rupees.

Prime Minister Wickremesinghe, outlining the government's economic priorities ahead of the 2016 budget announcement, said the government would minimise tax holidays and aim to garner more revenues from the rich through direct taxes, a move that could be praised by the International Monetary Fund.

"All in all, it looks positive. This is what people have been waiting for," said Dimantha Mathew, a research manager at First Capital Equities (Pvt) Ltd, adding that he expected the market to react positively to the prime minister's statement.

The next trigger for the markets would be the budget scheduled for Nov. 20, analysts said.

Shares in Hemas Holdings Plc rose 3.13 percent while conglomerate John Keells Holdings Plc gained 1.40 percent.

Foreign investors, who have been net sellers of 3.71 billion rupees worth of equities so far this year, bought a net 16.5 million rupees worth shares on Thursday. 

($1 = 141.4000 Sri Lankan rupees) 

(Reporting by Ranga Sirilal and Shihar Aneez; Editing by Sunil Nair)

The Asian Banker pronounces BoC the "Strongest Bank" in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka’s No.1 Bank, the Bank of Ceylon was named as the only "Strongest Bank" in Sri Lanka for the year 2015 by the Asian Banker, in an independent research carried by the region’s most authoritative provider of strategic business intelligence to the financial services community. The announcement was made at a ceremony held in conjunction with SWIFT’s SIBOS convention at Sands Expo and Convention Centre, Marina Bay Sands, Singapore.

The Asian Banker 500 ranking is the most comprehensive annual evaluation that captures the quality and sustainability of the balance sheets of the banks in the region. All data are sourced from Central Banks and miscellaneous publications or via informed estimates. The evaluation was based on the balance sheet growth, scale of operations, risk profile, profitability, asset quality and liquidity for the year 2014. The Bank of Ceylon is among the winners, who are Standard Chartered Bank Hong- Kong, HSBC Hong-Kong, Bank of China, DBS Group, West-Pac Banking Corporation-AUS, ANZ Bank New Zealand and May Bank Malaysia.

The Bank of Ceylon closed its 75th year on a magnificently high note in 2014, by recording the highest ever profit before tax (PBT) in the bank’s history as well as in the Sri Lankan banking industry of Rs.20.3 billion, achieving a growth of 29% compared to the previous year. This was the highest profit earned by a single Sri Lankan business entity for the year. Post tax profit stood at Rs. 13.6 billion -a 12% growth. Banks assets grew by 11% to Rs.1.3 trillion for the year 2014.

The Bank has grown enormously in scale and sophistication in both operations and products and services offered over its years. Being true to its title "Bankers to the Nation", the Bank of Ceylon offers banking products to a broader spectrum of customers, from individuals, SMEs to Corporate businesses. BOC has over 1000 customer touch points including, 622 branch network across the country, SME Centres, its own 522 island-wide ATM Network and newest Cash Deposit Machines. With this vast network BOC has been able to provide banking services to a wider customer base of over ten million, coming from all walks of life. The first Sri Lankan Bank to operate its branch overseas BOC London branch was established in 1949 and later converted into a fully owned banking subsidiary. Since then bank’s overseas branch network has been expanded to Male, Chennai and Seychelles. - BoC

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PLC Group posts Rs. 2.35 b profit in record first half

PLC Group declared the highest ever first half results in its history with an outstanding profit after tax (PAT) of Rs. 2.35 billion.

This signifies a 25.3% growth over the corresponding period of the previous year.

The Group’s performance has been consistent since the second quarter of the last financial year with profits over Rs. 1 billion for consecutive five quarters. Group’s pre-tax profit reached Rs. 3.38 billion with a 27.8% surge and Group’s total assets stood at Rs. 121.66 billion reflecting a 3.8% rise over the asset base as at March 31, 2015. “A strong asset base, steadfast workforce lead by an abled management paved the way for the Group to achieve exceptional performance in the 1H of 2015/16,” PLC Chairman Hemasiri Fernando said.

People’s Leasing & Finance being the main contributor to the Group’s achievement also evinced its highest ever 1H result with a Rs. 2.26 billion profit after tax reflecting an YoY growth of 29.5%. Profit after tax for second quarter also grew by 16.8% over the corresponding period of the previous year to Rs. 1.26 billion, securing the highest profit achieved for a quarter throughout PLC’s corporate journey. CEO D. P. Kumarage said PLC performed extremely well amidst the challenging business environment to record solid operational and financial results in 1H and we are very optimistic about the rest of the financial year”

Low interest rate regime lessened interest income to Rs. 4.48 billion while interest expenses decreased to Rs. 1.89 billion (-23.4%) resulting a net interest income of Rs. 2.59 billion (+5.6%) in the second quarter of financial year 2015/16.

Despite the growth in business volumes, PLC managed to curtail the growth in operating costs to 2.5% in 2Q which positively contributed to the company’s profitability.
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CSE an ideal place to invest - LSE CEO

London Stock Exchange Chief Executive Officer Nikhil Rathi said the Colombo Stock Exchange is an ideal place for the diversification of risk as its trades at small discount to the regional markets with a market capitalization to GDP ratio among the lowest in the region and a low correlation to developed markets.

Speaking at the “Invest Sri Lanka” Investor Forum hosted in London on October 29 at The Savoy Hotel, he said it’s a good way to broaden out your risk. We are very pleased to welcome companies to London and as you know London has in terms of asset management, international equity under management than any other financial center in the world.

So we hope today, many investors and issuers get a chance to talk about the opportunities in Sri Lanka.

"With the election of a new government we as investors are confident of a new investment environment and prospects for growth will pop up. The growth of CSE and Sri Lanka will only increase in the future,"Rathi said.

Overseas Realty posts Rs. 2.2 b profit in 9 months

Overseas Realty (Ceylon) PLC recorded a group net profit of Rs. 2.2 billion for the nine months ended September 30, 2015, a decrease of 12% over the corresponding period of 2014.

The Group recorded a Revenue of Rs. 2.4 b which was a decrease of 49% over the corresponding period of last year, due mainly to the recognition of lower apartment sales at Havelock City.

The Revenue from Property Leasing grew by 14% to Rs. 1.5 b in comparison over last year due to high occupancy levels and higher rentals at the World Trade Center (WTC), with Other Services Revenue contributing Rs. 131 m , an increase of 36% resulting in a Total Group Revenue of Rs. 2.4 b .

The Company expects to maintain high occupancy levels throughout the year at the WTC.

Piling work of Havelock City Phase 3 and Phase 4 comprising 4 more residential towers with 644 luxury apartments commenced in May 2015 with the superstructure construction planned to start next year.

The Group Net Asset Value per share as at September 30, 2015 increased by 2% to Rs. 31.26 and the Earnings per Share for the period stood at Rs. 2.43. The profit attributable to Equity Holders of the Parent decreased marginally by 3% to Rs. 2.1 bn.