Sri Lanka’s Hemas to focus on specialised health care, lab services

ECONOMYNEXT - Hemas Holdings will be focusing on improving specialised health care services at its two remaining hospitals, following the sale of its hospital in Galle, and laboratory services, a Colombo Stock Exchange filing said.

Its two remaining hospitals, in Thalawathugoda and Wattala, have a combined capacity of 184 beds. It also has an islandwide network of 34 diagnostic laboratories.

Asiri Hospital Holdings Plc acquired Hemas Southern Hospitals (Private) Limited for 450 million rupees last Friday, increasing its hospitals to five.

Hemas Holdings’ stocks were up 5.40 rupees to 93.40 rupees when markets closed on Monday.

Asiri Hospital Holdings’ stocks were down 20 cents to 22.80 rupees.

Sri Lanka's Asiri acquires Hemas Galle for Rs.450mn

ECONOMYNEXT - The Softlogic Group subsidiary Asiri Hospital Holdings Plc acquired Hemas Southern Hospitals (Private) Limited for 450 million rupees last Friday, a disclosure to the Colombo Stock Exchange said.

"The decision to enter into this transaction brings tremendous synergy to the Asiri group with the existing hospuitals and laboratories of Asiri in the southern region," the company said.

The former Hemas Group subsidiary operates the Hemas Galle hospital, which was commissioned in 2009 and has 50 beds. It was one of three Hemas hospitals.

Private healthcare is expected to play a greater part in Sri Lanka, with a rapidly ageing population, economic growth and increasing insurance penetration.

Following the acquisition, Asiri now has five hospitals with three in Colombo, one in Matara and the new unit in Galle. The bed capacity of Asiri has expanded to 634.

Another hospital with 175 beds is expected to open in Kandy next year.

Asiri's shares were trading Monday morning at 23 rupees, flat from the previous close on Friday.

The firm's net profits were up 1.8 percent from a year earlier to 392.8 million rupees in the September quarter.

Sri Lanka's Cinnamon Lakeside Hotel revenues, profits slump

ECONOMYNEXT - Trans Asia Hotel Plc, the owner of Cinnamon Lakeside Hotel in Sri Lanka's capital Colombo said profits fell 49 percent from a year earlier to 76.5 million rupees, in the September 2018 quarter, with revenues falling 15 percent.

The firm reported earnings of 38 cents per share in interim accounts filed with the Colombo Stock Exchange.

In the six months to September the hotel reported earnings of 52 cents per share on total profits of 104 million rupees, which were down 53 percent.

Colombo's older 5-star hotels have been hit by the entry of newer properties at both the high and low ends. Properties like Shangri-La have also attracted banquet business, industry analysts say.

Meanwhile price floors in Colombo may also be making it less easy for Colombo to compete with East Asia and new smaller properties outside Colombo.

Revenues fell 15 percent from a year earlier to 723 million rupees in the quarter, with cost of fell 16 percent to 294 million rupees, but gross profits fell 13 percent to 429 million rupees.

Sri Lankan rupee falls on uncertainty after heavy foreign outflow; stocks down

Reuters: ** The Sri Lankan rupee ended weaker on Monday as outflows from stocks and government securities due to political uncertainty raised dollar demand.

** Stocks slipped for the second session running, moving further away from their nearly two-month closing high hit last week. Foreign investors sold shares as the political crisis continued after the speaker of parliament said on Monday he would not recognise President Maithripala Sirisena’s sacking of Ranil Wickremesinghe and appointment of Mahinda Rajapaksa as the prime minister.

** The rupee ended at 174.45/60 per dollar on Monday, compared with the previous close of 174.30/50. The rupee has dropped 0.8 percent since the political crisis began on Oct. 26.

** The rupee hit a record low of 175.65 per dollar on Thursday.

** The rupee weakened 3.7 percent in October after a 4.7 percent drop in September against the dollar. It has dropped 13.5 percent so far this year.

** Since the prime minister’s sudden sacking, 7.02 billion rupees has flowed out of the stock market while the bond market saw an outflow of around 11 billion rupees between Oct. 25-31, central bank data showed. So far this year, the island nation has seen 16.5 billion rupees in outflows from stocks and 100.8 billion rupees from government securities, bourse and central bank data respectively showed.

** Sri Lanka’s speaker of parliament said on Monday he would not accept former president Mahinda Rajapaksa as the new prime minister until he proves he commands a majority in parliament.

** The opposition leader Rajapaksa was appointed prime minister on Oct. 26 after President Sirisena dismissed the incumbent in a surprise move that threatens political turmoil in the South Asian country. 

** The appointment of Rajapaksa prompted protests and a demand for parliament to be called to allow lawmakers to choose their leader. The return of Rajapaksa, a former president who crushed a decades-old Tamil insurgency, has stoked fears of fresh political and ethnic division in the island nation of 21 million mostly Sinhalese Buddhists, with Tamil and Muslim minorities.

** The Colombo stock index dropped 0.49 percent to 6,062.09. It hit a near two-month high on Thursday. The bourse rose 4.5 percent last week due to heavy retail investor participation. It has slipped around 4 percent so far this year.

Stock market turnover was 4.13 billion rupees on Monday, more than five times this year’s daily average of 814.7 million rupees.

($1 = 174.4000 Sri Lankan rupees) 

(Reporting by Shihar Aneez; editing by David Stamp)

Sri Lankan rupee ends weaker; stocks slip from nearly 2-month high

Reuters: ** The Sri Lankan rupee ended slightly weaker on Friday due to dollar demand for outflows in government securities and stock-related transactions, sources said. Stocks slipped from its nearly two-month closing high hit in the previous session, as the political turmoil continues despite newly appointed Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa’s attempts to resolve the political crisis.

** The rupee had traded at a record low of 175.65 per dollar on Thursday.

** The rupee ended at 174.30/50 per dollar on Friday, compared with previous close of 174.00/40. The rupee has dropped 0.7 percent ever since the political crisis unfolded last Friday.

** The rupee weakened 3.7 percent in October after a 4.7 percent drop in September against the dollar. It dropped 13.5 percent so far this year. 

** Sri Lankan opposition leader Mahinda Rajapaksa was appointed prime minister last Friday after President Sirisena dismissed the incumbent in a surprise move that threatens political turmoil in the South Asian country. 

** The appointment of Mahinda Rajapaksa as prime minister prompted protests and a demand for parliament to be called, to allow lawmakers to choose their leader. The return of Rajapaksa, a former president who crushed a decades-old Tamil insurgency, has stoked fears of fresh political and ethnic division in the island nation of 21 million mostly Sinhalese Buddhists, with Tamil and Muslim minorities.

** The Colombo stock index dropped 0.36 percent to 6,092.21, slipping from its highest close since Sept. 7 hit on Thursday. The bourse rose 4.5 percent since last Friday, but fell 1.5 percent last month and slipped 4.4 percent so far this year.

** Analysts said retail investors, who have stayed away from the market during a number of investigations against market manipulation that allegedly occurred under the previous government, actively bargain-hunted after the president’s announcement. 

** Data from the central bank showed that foreign investors sold government securities worth a net 3.9 billion rupees ($22.40 million) in the week ended Oct. 23. Sri Lanka has seen a net outflow of 89.8 billion rupees in securities so far this year. 

** Stock market turnover was 1.9 billion rupees on Friday, more than twice this year’s daily average of 798.3 million rupees. 

** Foreign investors turned net buyers first time in 15 sessions, and they were net buyers of shares worth 66.9 million rupees on Friday. However, foreign investors were net sellers of 13.3 billion rupees worth of shares so far this year.

($1 = 174.1000 Sri Lankan rupees) 

(Reporting by Ranga Sirilal and Shihar Aneez)

Amãna Bank’s 9 month PAT grows by 61%

Amãna Bank continued its strong profit momentum for the year as its Profit After Tax for the 9 months ending 30 September grew significantly by 61% YoY to reach Rs 429.9 million from Rs 266.8 million recorded a year ago. The Profit Before Tax for the same period grew by 50% YoY to reach Rs 597.1 million compared to Rs 397.0 million recorded in the corresponding period of 2017.

Supported by a consistent profitability trend over the past few years, the Bank, for the first time in its relatively short history, paid an interim dividend of 7 cents per share totaling to Rs 175.1 million during the last quarter.

With its banking activities primarily revolving on Retail and SME banking, Amãna Bank’s Financing Income recorded a 23.6% YoY growth to reach Rs 4.95 billion from Rs 4.0 billion recorded in 2017. Net Financing Income grew to Rs 2.40 billion from Rs 1.96 billion reflecting a 22.7% YoY growth. The Bank continued to maintain a healthy Financing Margin of 4.4% compared to 4.2% at end 2017. Complementing the strong momentum of growth in core banking, the Bank’s Net Fee and Commission Income reported a commendable YoY growth of 28.2%.

Despite the increase in impairment charge on advances and considering only a 9.6% overall increase in operating expenses, the Bank was successful in achieving an impressive 38.1% YoY growth in Operating Profit before all Taxes to close the third quarter with a cumulative amount of Rs 937.3 million.

Despite the overall tightness of liquidity in the market, Amãna Bank’s Customer Deposits grew by 14.3% for the nine months to close at Rs 58.20 billion owing to the growing acceptance of the Bank’s people friendly non-interest based banking model.

Due to prevailing general market conditions, the Bank’s Gross Non Performing Advances Ratio increased to 2.78% from 1.89% at end 2017, which is below the Industry Gross Non Performing ratio of 3.1% as at June 2018.The Bank’s Net Non Performing Advances Ratio stood at a healthy 1.18%.

Chief Executive Officer Mohamed Azmeer said “It is noteworthy to reflect on our continuous profitability achievements, which has been very encouraging. Looking back in retrospect of our 5 year strategic plan, the success we have achieved and sustained thus far is a result of the long-standing confidence placed in us by our valued customers, determined shareholders and devoted staff, for which we are humbly grateful.”

www.dailynews.lk

Chevron Lubricants Sept. net falls amid flat top line

Sri Lanka’s lubricant market leader Chevron Lubricants Lanka PLC saw its earnings for the September quarter (3Q18) falling 21 percent year-on-year (YoY) to Rs.516.4 million with tepid growth in sales, the interim financial accounts released to the Colombo Stock Exchange showed. The revenue from lubricants sales edged up only 1 percent YoY to Rs.2.8 billion while the cost of sales rose at a much faster pace of 12 percent YoY to Rs.1.8 billion, resulting in a gross profit of little over Rs.1 billion, down 13 percent.

The earnings per share for the period deteriorated to Rs.2.15 from Rs.2.74 reported for the same quarter, last year.

According to the data released by Sri Lanka’s shadow lubricant market regulator, Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL), Chevron Lubricant Lanka’s market share had come down to 41.88 percent by the end of the first quarter of 2018 from 46.87 percent a year ago.

Indian Oil Corporation Limited operating through its local subsidiary, Lanka IOC PLC—Chevron Lubricant Lanka’s closest competitor was able to retain its market share at 16.67 percent being the second largest player in the market.

ExxonMobil, the third largest player in the market, had increased its share to 7.17 percent from 5.36 percent a year earlier while the State-owned Ceylon Petroleum Corporation saw its market share coming down to 6.98 percent from 7.86 percent a year ago.

Laugfs Lubricants, a more recent entrant to the crowded lube market had also increased its market share to 5.93 percent from 3.51 percent. Laugfs Lubricants remains the fifth largest player.

Sri Lanka’s overall lube market had shrunk to 16,843 kilo litres during the first quarter of 2018 compared to the 17,278 kilo litres sold during the same quarter of 2017.
Meanwhile, for the first nine months ended September 30, 2018, Chevron Lubricants Lanka reported earnings of Rs.7.17 a share or Rs.1.7 billion, down 14 percent YoY.

The revenue for the nine months grew 5 percent YoY to Rs.8.6 billion.

The company announced its third interim dividend of Rs.2 per share to be paid on November 19, 2018.

On May 22, Chevron’s long-serving Chief Executive Officer Kishu Gomes tendered his resignation and Rochna Kaul, General Manager of Chevron’s Asian-Pakistan region, who is also Chairman of Chevron Lubricants Lanka, took over as the Acting CEO.

The company in July announced the appointment of Patrick McCloud as the new CEO with effect from September 1, 2018.

Chevron Ceylon Limited has 51 percent of issued shares of the company.
www.dailymirror.lk