Sri Lanka Treasury bill yields down; 6-month yield down 37 bps

(LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Treasury bill yields were down on Wednesday’s auction with the 6-month yield dropping 37 basis points to 6.50 percent, data from the state debt office showed.

12-month Treasury bill yields were down by one basis point to close at 6.93 percent and the three month bills were not offered for the auction.

The Central Bank offered 15 billion worth of Treasury bills today and the auction was oversubscribed receiving bids amounting to 83.3 billion rupees.

It was decided to accept 12.4 billion rupees worth of bills.

MTD Walkers buys Sri Lanka ship yard

ECONOMYNEXT – MTD Walkers PLC has acquired a Sri Lankan firm putting up a small shipyard in a fishery harbour north of Colombo port as part of its diversification strategy and expansion of the marine engineering business, officials said.

Walkers Colombo Shipyard (Pvt) Ltd. aims to attract small merchant ships, fishing vessels and pleasure craft to its yard at Mutwal fishery harbour, its Chief Executive Sarath Obeysekera told a news conference.

It will have facilities to lift vessels out of the water as well as do repairs afloat.

The company is also building two small tug boats which will be used to guide vessels coming for repairs, said Obeysekera, a former chief executive of Colombo Dockyard PLC, now controlled by Japan’s Onomichi Dockyard Company.

“We will compete with Colombo Dockyard to some extent but I’ll also augment the business so the whole country can benefit from shipyard-related businesses.”

MTD Walkers in April 2015 acquired 90 percent of Seagulf UK Private Limited, where Obeysekera was chairman.

Seagulf has a 25 year lease agreement with Ceylon Fishery Harbours Corporation to build and operate a ship repairing facility at Mutwal Fisheries Harbour.

Jehan Amaratunga, Group Executive Deputy Chairman of MTD Walkers, said the company will invest about eight million US dollars in the Mutwal shipyard as part of its diversification from the mainly construction business of the group.

MTD Walkers was a pioneer ship repairer in Sri Lanka having being in the business more than a hundred years ago.

“We are seeing a resurgence of the marine engineering business of the Walkers CML group,” Amaratunga said.

Three years ago Walkers CML bought Colombo Engineering, a firm doing afloat repairs.

The new investment in Mutwal by Walkers is the “first of many shipyards we will set up around Sri Lanka,” Amaratunga said.

“We see a large potential for business outside Sri Lanka which can be attracted.”

Sri Lankan shares edge up; budget awaited

Reuters: Sri Lankan shares edged up on Wednesday for a second straight session, led by blue-chip stocks, but trading volume was low as investors waited for direction from the budget later this week.

The main stock index ended 0.06 percent, or 4.02 points, firmer at 6,981.97.

"Select strategic buying was there on lower scale," said Dimantha Mathew, research manager at First Capital Equities (Pvt) Ltd.

Brokers said investors were also waiting for policy direction from the annual budget scheduled later this week.

Sri Lankan Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake will seek to boost tax revenues and rationalise spending in the new government's first full-year budget on Friday, but analysts see him showing little commitment to fiscal consolidation.

The days turnover was at 534.8 million rupees ($3.8 million) on Wednesday, less than this year's daily average of 1.1 billion rupees.

Gains in Lion Brewery Plc and Sampath Bank Plc outpaced losses in biggest-listed lender Commercial Bank of Ceylon Plc, which fell 1 percent. The market heavyweight John Keells Holding Plc fell 0.3 percent.

Foreign investors, who had sold a net 3.57 billion rupee worth of equities so far this year, were net buyers of 56.04 million rupees worth of shares on Wednesday. 

($1 = 142.2000 Sri Lankan rupees) 

(Reporting by Ranga Sirilal and Shihar Aneez; Editing by Anand Basu)

JKH tops Business Today TOP 25 again

Business Today TOP 25 commended the top corporate performers of Sri Lanka for the financial year 2014-2015. The award ceremony was held at the Hilton Colombo acknowledging 25 outstanding companies for their exceptional performance in corporate Sri Lanka during the year yesterday.

Chief guest Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe attended the event with Prof Maithree Wickremasinghe and distinguished guests from the business fraternity, diplomats, politicians and policy makers of Sri Lanka.

John Keells Holdings was once again ranked at number one in the Business Today TOP 25, reiterating the Group’s remarkable standing in the corporate sector of Sri Lanka. The Group saw a 22 percent increase in profit after tax from last year to Rs 15.75 billion with the leisure sector making the largest contribution of 31 percent.

Commercial Bank of Ceylon retained its position at number two while Hatton National Bank moved up the ranking to secure the third position. Recording an asset growth of 31 percent to 797 billion rupees, for the third consecutive year Commercial Bank achieved a profit after tax of over ten billion rupees to reach 11.24 billion rupees. Hatton National Bank recorded assets of over 600 billion rupees while profit after tax exceeded 10 billion rupees.

Ceylon Tobacco Company ranked fourth while the Distilleries Company of Sri Lanka secured the fifth place. Dialog Axiata was positioned sixth, Lanka Orix Leasing Company at seven while Bukit Darah secured the eighth position. Completing the top ten positions Sri Lanka Telecom and Sampath Bank were ranked ninth and tenth positions respectively.

The ranking continued with Hayleys at 11, Aitken Spence 12, Nestlé Lanka 13, Vallibel One 14, National Development Bank 15, DFCC Bank 16, People’s Leasing and Finance 17, Central Finance 18, Chevron Lubricants Lanka 19, Seylan Bank 20, Ceylinco Insurance 21, Nations Trust Bank entered the Business Today TOP 25 for the first time at 22, Hemas Holdings 23, Access Engineering 24 and Lanka IOC 25.

The Business Today TOP 25 companies have been selected on the basis of their financial performance during the financial year ending December 31, 2014 and March 31, 2015.

The Business Today TOP 25 is strictly based on the published information of companies listed in the Colombo Stock Exchange. Turnover alone is not a true indicator of the performance of a company. Financial criteria considered include Share Turnover, Revenue, Profit after Tax, Return on Equity, Earnings per Share, Market Capitalisation and Value Addition. Weights are assigned to the criteria without any prejudice.

Business Today has annually recognised and awarded top corporate performers in the country since 1998 acknowledging them for their invaluable contribution towards reinforcing the country’s economy.

Allianz Lanka delivers impressive 3Q

Allianz Lanka continued its growth trajectory in both Life and Non Life companies during the third quarter of 2015, posting impressive results in all areas of business.

Gross Written Premium (GWP) in the Non Life company grew by 8% over 3Q 2014 figures, and reached Rs. 2 billion.

This is a noteworthy performance in a fiercely competitive landscape of sharply declining premium rates. Profit before taxes also grew significantly by over 100% when compared with the previous year, to reach Rs.87 million.

"Sustainable growth is a key factor in today's competitive environment," Allianz Lanka CEO Surekha Alles said. "Sustainability is driven by many factors such as the right product mix, value for money, customer convenience and satisfaction, and technology. At Allianz, we don't concentrate on growth for its own sake. We are happy with the qualitative growth we have achieved."

Among the factors that contributed to the Company's growth was the introduction of selective new products during the year, designed to cater to specific market needs.

The Life Company kept pace with a record GWP growth of Rs 676 million, an increase of 14% over last year's third quarter figures. The Life Company will continue to focus on new business growth, and is looking at introducing new products to the market in the near future.

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LB Finance profits soar by 54% in first half

LB Finance PLC announced its first half performance for 2015/2016, affirming its continuous growth. Profit after tax was announced at Rs. 1.56 billion, a 54% rise over the previous six months' figure of Rs. 1.02 billion. Net interest income swelled to Rs. 4.14 billion, a rise of 14% over the corresponding period's Rs. 3.62 billion.

The total operating income rose to Rs. 4.7 billion compared to Rs. 4.1 billion recorded earlier, marking an increase of 13%. Total assets have reached Rs. 73.2 billion, compared Rs. 62.9 billion as at September 2014.

"Rising public confidence is a manifestation of the strategies in place where the company responds to evolving needs of the people while continuing to be prudent financial stewards, keeping our products and services on the cutting-edge," LB Finance Managing Director Sumith Adhihetty said.

"We have been placing a lot of emphasis on retaining our customers and that means helping them with total solutions through a personalized service that make them feel right at home in the world of finance," he said.

LB Finance PLC is a leading light in the financial services industry in Sri Lanka.

The company was established in 1971 and through the years has built a strong reputation as one of Sri Lanka's most trusted financial organisations. With a total deposit base of over Rs. 47 billion, LB Finance is proud of the trust placed by the general public making the Company the largest non-banking deposit mobilizer in the country.

The Company also offers a variety of other services including Leasing, Factoring, Hire Purchasing, Micro Finance, Mortgage Loans and Gold Loans. LB Finance is licensed by the Monetary Board of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka under the Finance Business Act No. 42 of 2011.

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