Sri Lanka's Ceylon Cold Stores net up 87-pct in June quarter

July 23, 2014 (LBO) - Profits at Sri Lanka's Ceylon Cold Stores, which has interests in consumer goods and retailing, surged 87 percent to 299.3 million rupees in the June 2014 quarter from a year earlier as revenues rose 18 percent.

The firm reported earnings of 3.15 rupees per share for the quarter in interim accounts filed with the Colombo Stock Exchange. The stock closed at 177.70 up 9.70 rupees Monday.

The firm said revenues rose 18 percent to 6.7 billion rupees in the quarter and cost of sales also rose 18 percent to 5.8 billion rupees and the firm grew gross profits 25 percent to 828 million rupees.

Unspecified other operating income were up 36 percent to 250 million rupees.

Finance costs fell 59 percent to 8.3 million rupees as interest rates fell and the company reduced long term borrowing to 150 million rupees from 185 million a quarter earlier.

Sri Lanka is recovering from a balance of payments crisis where consumer spending power was hit by steep currency depreciation in 2012, following contradictory monetary and exchange rate policy.

In the year to March 2014 revenues only grew 6 percent.

Ceylon Cold Stores is a top producer of carbonated drinks, ice cream and has a retail chain.

Sri Lanka's HDFC Bank profits surge

July 23, 2014 (LBO) - Profits at Sri Lanka's HDFC Bank, a mortgage lender, surged over five fold to 82 million rupees in the June 2014 quarter from a year earlier as borrowing costs fell, interim accounts showed.

The bank reported earnings of 1.28 rupees per share for the quarter. For the six months to June the bank reported earnings of 2.86 rupees per share on total profits of 185 million rupees, up from 50.4 million rupees a year earlier.

The stock last traded at 43 rupees up 70 cents.

HDFC said interest income rose 27 percent to 1.08 billion rupees while interest expenses fell 1.0 percent to 600.9 million rupees allowing net interest income to grow 95 percent to 488 million rupees.

The bank provided 68 million rupees for loan losses, up 439 percent from a year earlier.

HDFC said loans grew 8.9 percent to 21.4 billion rupees during the past six months with total assets growing to 30.4 billion rupees from 27.5 billion rupees in December.

Net assets rose to 2.74 billion rupees from 2.57 billion rupees in December.

Capital adequacy fell to 16.0 percent of risk weighted assets in June from 18.2 percent in December.

The bank reported gross non-performing loan ratio of 19.7 percent with 7.91 percent coming from loans given against balance of a Sri Lanka's Employees' Provident Fund, a retirement fund.

Defaulted loans are periodically settled against member balances.

NOLIMIT among top 100 unlisted brands

Sri Lanka’s biggest fashion retail chain NOLIMIT was recently ranked among the Top 100 unlisted brands in Sri Lanka by Brand Finance in their annual analysis of the top brands in Sri Lanka.

The brand was also ranked second in customer service among retail stores by Living Magazine in a survey conducted this year.

The Unlisted Brands rating was compiled on the basis of an independent market research study and presents a complete view of the brand’s landscape in Sri Lanka. The survey seeks to clearly establish the brand’s quality, reliability, distinctiveness, reputation and trustworthiness.

Speaking about this achievement Raneez Sheriff, the Marketing Manager of NOLIMIT said, “We are extremely proud to have been ranked among the top 100 unlisted companies in Sri Lanka by Brand Finance and to be ranked second in customer service among all retail stores in the country by Living Magazine".

"We have constantly been looking at ways of delivering on our brand promise while improving our customer service levels and we are very pleased that our efforts have been noticed and recognized.”

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Dunamis Capital’s Rs 1b debenture issue opens Monday

The Rs 1 billion debenture issue of Dunamis Capital PLC opens for subscription on Monday July 28 and will be kept open till August 15 unless oversubscribed before the closing date,the company said.

Rated ‘BBB’ by RAM Ratings Lanka Limited, the issue of 10 million rated, senior, unsecured redeemable debentures of Rs 100 each, is to raise capital to increase the long term funding base of Dunamis Capital PLC, the holding company of First Capital, Kelsey Homes and Premier Synthetic Leather.

The five-year debentures which will be listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE), offer a fixed interest rate of 12.5 % per annum, payable annually until the maturity of the debenture at the end of five years.

The minimum subscription per application is 100 debentures (Rs 10,000). Applications exceeding the minimum subscription should be in multiples of Rs 10,000, the company said in the Prospectus for the issue. In the event of oversubscription, the basis of allotment will be decided by the Board of Directors of Dunamis Capital PLC within seven market days from the closing date. Dunamis Capital PLC reported profit after tax of Rs 121.5 million for the year ending March 31, 2014, with its Financial Services business recording net profit of Rs 340 million and Property Development converting a net loss of Rs 55 million in 2012-13 into net profit of Rs 148.6 million.

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