By Charumini de Silva
Ceylon Finance Today: Singapore based Calamander Group Incorporated (CGI) yesterday confirmed that the group was considering listing in the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE), a senior official said.
Speaking to Ceylon FT Calamander Group Incorporated (CGI) Founder and Chairman Roman Scott said, "We are considering entering the CSE, but we will list when the time is right. I do not believe in making a company public when it is too small and not ready for the rigours of the market.
Further explaining he said, "I believe a company should first be run as if it is a public company for several years, and secondly it should have scale. This means having public company accounting standards, governance, controls, and management quality to at least top 50 company standards.
It also means having a good tax record. I actually like paying taxes, it demonstrates that size and profits are there, and I am committed to good corporate citizenship. We have to be a respected employer.
"For scale requirements, I think each company listing should have a decent balance sheet and revenue size; a minimum of Rs 1 billion or half a billion rupees respectively. This is the level I would like to see before listing on CSE," he added.
The balance sheet of the company at group level grew by 31%, a strong result driven, equally good growth, and further investments in the UK, Singapore, and Sri Lankan businesses and completely new investments in Singapore and Bangladesh. Revenue growth was limited to 5.5% globally, with only +5% in Singapore, reflecting a soft commercial office rental market, and the same in the UK.
In Sri Lanka, revenue growth was -6.7% on the hotel side, reflecting a year of low room availability as we rebuilt the hotel, and +14% in retail F&B, with the Coffee Bean growing SSS (same stores sales) consistently. Bangladesh does not yet contribute to revenue.
EBITDA growth for financial year 2014 was -7.3%, based on negative growth for the hotel from the refurbishment of -11.6%, and positive growth for the coffee bean of +17.7 %.
Commenting on the growth targets for this year Scott said, "I usually aim to grow 20-25% compound annual growth rate a year, which the company has done since its founding eight years ago. Since the company is so young we need to grow aggressively. I am a great believer in scale. And I recognize that I remain a small player in Sri Lanka and all our other markets, competing against bigger, well capitalized local companies that have a 50-year or more advantage over me. Note our growth target of 20% is for the balance sheet, such as assets, like a bank, and not on revenue or profits. This reflects my banking background. Since everything is reinvested at this stage of growth, profits are secondary to asset growth and scale."
www.ceylontoday.lk
Ceylon Finance Today: Singapore based Calamander Group Incorporated (CGI) yesterday confirmed that the group was considering listing in the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE), a senior official said.
Speaking to Ceylon FT Calamander Group Incorporated (CGI) Founder and Chairman Roman Scott said, "We are considering entering the CSE, but we will list when the time is right. I do not believe in making a company public when it is too small and not ready for the rigours of the market.
Further explaining he said, "I believe a company should first be run as if it is a public company for several years, and secondly it should have scale. This means having public company accounting standards, governance, controls, and management quality to at least top 50 company standards.
It also means having a good tax record. I actually like paying taxes, it demonstrates that size and profits are there, and I am committed to good corporate citizenship. We have to be a respected employer.
"For scale requirements, I think each company listing should have a decent balance sheet and revenue size; a minimum of Rs 1 billion or half a billion rupees respectively. This is the level I would like to see before listing on CSE," he added.
The balance sheet of the company at group level grew by 31%, a strong result driven, equally good growth, and further investments in the UK, Singapore, and Sri Lankan businesses and completely new investments in Singapore and Bangladesh. Revenue growth was limited to 5.5% globally, with only +5% in Singapore, reflecting a soft commercial office rental market, and the same in the UK.
In Sri Lanka, revenue growth was -6.7% on the hotel side, reflecting a year of low room availability as we rebuilt the hotel, and +14% in retail F&B, with the Coffee Bean growing SSS (same stores sales) consistently. Bangladesh does not yet contribute to revenue.
EBITDA growth for financial year 2014 was -7.3%, based on negative growth for the hotel from the refurbishment of -11.6%, and positive growth for the coffee bean of +17.7 %.
Commenting on the growth targets for this year Scott said, "I usually aim to grow 20-25% compound annual growth rate a year, which the company has done since its founding eight years ago. Since the company is so young we need to grow aggressively. I am a great believer in scale. And I recognize that I remain a small player in Sri Lanka and all our other markets, competing against bigger, well capitalized local companies that have a 50-year or more advantage over me. Note our growth target of 20% is for the balance sheet, such as assets, like a bank, and not on revenue or profits. This reflects my banking background. Since everything is reinvested at this stage of growth, profits are secondary to asset growth and scale."
www.ceylontoday.lk
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