Sri Lanka Com Bank says warded off hacker attack

ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s Commercial Bank said it had been subject to a hacking attack against which it defended itself with no loss of customer data or passwords and that it had hired outside experts to check its defences.

“There was a hacking attack on our website and the bank took immediate corrective steps,” a statement said.

“Our systems are fully secure and operational. The hacking attack was also immediately communicated to the relevant authorities.

“We confirm that no sensitive customer data or valuable passwords were lost due to this intrusion. We are taking every measure to protect the privacy of our customers and have engaged external parties to review all our systems to ensure that no vulnerabilities exist.”

The Commercial Bank statement came after Swift, the inter-bank messaging system, warned customers that hackers have struck again, attacking a commercial bank client that it didn’t identify.

It was the second hack follow a cyber theft in February, when more than $80 million was stolen from Bangladesh’s account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Swift, a Belgian co-operative owned by member banks, last month warned users last month that it was aware of several similar attacks.

The attackers exhibited a "deep and sophisticated knowledge of specific operational controls" at targeted banks and may have been aided by "malicious insiders or cyber attacks, or a combination of both," SWIFT said in a statement.

Sri Lanka’s MTD Walkers sets up Maldives unit

ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lankan construction and engineering firm MTD Walkers said it has set up a subsidiary in the Maldives as it plans to expand operations in the archipelago.

The company, an integrated infrastructure and engineering solutions provider, said the new unit, Walkers CML International (Private) Limited, was needed to meet the growing demand of infrastructure development activities in the country.

The Group said it also hopes to work with local partners and government institutions to assist in achieving the development objectives of the Government of Maldives, a statement said.

“We hope to capitalize on emerging engineering opportunities available in the Maldives in the areas of civil engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, building services and marine engineering,” said Lal Perera, Head of Group Business Development of MTD Walkers PLC.

“Setting up operations in the Maldives forms part of our strategy to expand regionally,” said Jehan Amaratunga, Executive Deputy Chairman of MTD Walkers.

He explained that the Walkers CML Group will initially leverage on its civil and mechanical engineering expertise and introduce its full range of services in the coming years.

Sri Lanka Janashakthi Insurance March net Rs358mn

ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s Janashakthi Insurance said March 2016 net profit rose 236% to 358 million rupees from a year ago following a merger with another insurance firm.

Earnings per share for the quarter were 66 cents compared with 29 cents the year before, a stock exchange filing said.

It said consolidated Gross Written Premium (GWP) rose 32.8% to 3.3 billion rupees in the period.

The company’s Non-Life or General Insurance business grew 43% with a GWP of 2.7 billion rupees.

“This was largely driven by the merger of operations of newly acquired former AIA General Insurance Lanka Limited with Janashakthi General Insurance Limited, which was completed by the end of January 2016,” a statement said.

The Life Insurance business delivered GWP was stagnant at 0.61 billion rupees.

Janashakthi disbursed claims in excess of 1.543 billion, including claims of the acquired entity during this period.

“Our consolidated businesses continue to record steady growth led by the Non-Life category, enabling us to grow profitably despite a rise in claims payments,” said Prakash Schaffter, Managing Director, Janashakthi Insurance PLC.

Sri Lankan shares gain to over four-month closing high

Reuters: Sri Lankan shares rose on Monday to its highest close in more than four months, led by gains in large caps while traffic woes caused by a heavy downpour dented the trading session.

The benchmark stock index ended up 0.43 percent, or 28.56 points, at 6,708.40, its highest close since Jan. 8.

However, the gains were also capped on concerns that the government's move to increase the value added tax and impose new taxes, effective from May 2, would hit the bottom line of many companies.

The island nation experienced a massive downpour in the weekend, resulting in flash floods and also landslide threats in almost 10 districts of Sri Lanka, and caused heavy traffic in Colombo.

"There weren't much activity today mainly because of the heavy rain," said Dimantha Mathew, head of research, First Capital Equities (Pvt) Ltd.

Shares of Nestle Lanka Plc ended up 2.65 percent while conglomerate Ceylon Tobacco Company Plc gained 1.29 percent.

Turnover was 565.3 million rupees ($3.87 million), below this year's daily average of around 784.9 million rupees.

Foreign investors were net sellers of 50.4 million rupees worth of equities on Monday extending the year-to-date net foreign outflow to 3.93 billion rupees worth of shares.

The 14-day relative strength index, which is in an overbought region, stood at 83.127 on Monday, compared with Friday's 81.757, according to Thomson Reuters data. A level of 70 and above indicates the market is overbought.

($1 = 146.2000 Sri Lankan rupees) 

(Reporting by Ranga Sirilal and Shihar Aneez; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)

‘Dialog to invest USD 125 million on expansion activities this year’

By Hiran H.Senewiratne

Sri Lanka's premier mobile phone service provider and owner of the Pay TV network and Dialog Television, Dialog Axiata Plc, will invest US $ 125 million for all its expansion activities this year, the Group's Chief Executive Officer Hans Wijayasuriya said.

"We are quite optimistic about the way Sri Lanka's mobile communication sector is developing. Therefore, we are planning to invest in a big way in the future to give an experience on the latest technology for Sri Lankans, Dr Wijayasuriya told The Island Financial Review at the launch of Dialog's 7th Circuit home cinema platform for Sri Lankan producers. The event was held at the Dialog head office at Union Place, Colombo, last Thursday.

He said that US 125 million will be invested over this year for the expansion of the telecommunication, Pay TV network and Dialog TV sector. Further, the company has set a target to reach of one million Sri Lanka households through Dialog Pay TV this year, which market is now only 700,000 households, Dr Wijayasuriya said.

He also said that the recent VAT increase on telecommunication charges will come into operation from 1st of June. This would increase mobile charges but not in a significant way.

"Dialog Television is proud to partner the Sri Lanka film and theatre fraternity to present a new future and experience for the industry and viewers alike. Therefore, 7th Circuit will continue to present viewers exclusive premieres, live concerts and latest productions for the silver screen, including limited content from the world of theatre, which could be seen and aired only on Dialog Television, Wijayasuriya said at the launch.

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SLT Group posts Rs. 1.7 bn PAT in Q1

SLT Group has posted a profit after tax of Rs. 1.7 bn for the first quarter of 2016.

Sri Lanka Telecom Group consists of eight subsidiaries including the mobile operator Mobitel (Pvt) Ltd.

The groups focus in providing state of the art services by introducing new technologies and expanding the available infrastructure, results in reporting Rs. 18.4 bn revenue during the 1st quarter 2016 with a year on year growth of 10%. The group expects to maintain this trend through recently introduced FTTH (Fiber-to-the-Home) and LTE (Long-Term-Evolution), service packages, which is the future of modern telecommunications.

Owing to the increase of operating costs and depreciation, the operating profits of the group remained flat at Rs. 2.3 bn. In addition, recent indirect tax changes have resulted in cost increases.

Before and after tax profits of the group were recorded at Rs. 2.2 bn and Rs. 1.7 bn respectively with year on year growth of 4% and 3%. Annualized EPS of the group reported at Rs. 3.82.

The holding Company SLT was able to earn Rs. 10.8 bn revenue during the quarter under review reporting a 10% year on year growth. The growth was driven by the expansions and introduction of new technology. Escalations of operating costs and depreciation have resulted in the drop in profits. The Company’s before and after tax profits were flat at Rs. 1 bn and Rs. 0.7 bn respectively during the 1st quarter 2016.

“Being the sole provider of FTTH services in Sri Lanka, we are happy about the positive responses received from our customers on our Smartline (FTTX) package which gives a better broadband experience at a reasonable price,” SLT Group CEO Dileepa Wijesundera said.

“We are now geared to provide an even better service to our customers. The recently concluded i-Sri Lanka program migrating the entire subscriber base to modern soft switches and subscriptions to high capacity international submarine cable SE-ME-WE-5 connecting across the globe will also enrich the customer experience” he said.

“The SLT group has planned targets of over Rs. 70 bn for the year 2016. By the 31st of March we were ahead of respective target and have confidence to go even beyond these revenue targets for the year”, Chairman Kumarasinghe Sirisena said.

Mobitel (Pvt) Ltd., the mobile operator of the group continued to grow its revenue despite industry challenges. Revenue for the first quarter of 2016 grew by 10% to Rs 8.8 bn compared to the same quarter in the previous year. The revenue growth for the first quarter was primarily driven by continued growth in voice, broadband and value added services.
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GSP Plus sooner than expected

Sri Lanka has a very good chance to retain GSP Plus sooner than expected European Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development, Neven Mimica said.

Speaking to Daily News Business he said that Sri Lanka is systematically and efficiently obliging necessary requirements.

“Sri Lanka is on the right track to regain trade preferences granted to the country under EU’s GSP. The EU Commissioner said they will work together with Sri Lanka for an early application. The approval process for GSP+ takes about 10 to12 months.The process is on track.”

Meanwhile the EU-Sri Lanka Working Group on Trade and Economic Cooperation met on May 11 in Brussels for the final round of talks before Sri Lanka submits its application for the GSP plus from the EU.

Deputy Foreign Minister Dr. Harsha de Silva said that Sri Lanka is now on the final leg of the GSP+ application process. “It will be made in a matter of weeks as EU and Sri Lanka are now just about ready except for a few loose ends to be tied up,” he said.

The Working Group discussed issues related to bilateral trade and investment and possible means for their promotion in a mutual beneficial manner. In particular it discussed Sri Lanka’s intention in applying for GSP+ status under the European Union’s GSP Regulation.

It took positive note of the fact that Sri Lanka had made significant progress in addressing outstanding issues towards launching an application, especially relating to the rule of law, democracy, governance and the overall situation pertaining to human and labour rights and environmental protection.
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