Sri Lankan shares end at one-month closing low; higher rates weigh

Reuters: Sri Lankan shares fell to a near one-month low on Monday as investors sold large cap stocks on sentiment dented by a lack of catalysts for buying risky assets, amid concerns over foreign outflows and rising interest rates.

The benchmark Colombo stock index ended 0.28 percent, or 18.36 points, weaker at 6,552.85, its lowest close since April 29. It fell 0.94 percent during last week.

"The sentiment is very weak. All are waiting for some catalysts like a big foreign direct investment or IMF loan inflow or a big IPO," said Prashan Fernando, chief operating officer at Acuity stockbrokers.

Yields on treasury bills edged up by between 5 and 27 basis points to near three-year highs at a weekly auction last Wednesday, despite the central bank leaving key policy rates steady for a third straight month.

Foreign investors net sold 66.6 million rupees ($452,446) worth of shares on Monday, extending the year-to-date net foreign outflow to 5.64 billion rupees worth of shares.

Turnover stood at 740.2 million rupees, lower than this year's daily average of around 795.9 million rupees.

Shares in top conglomerate John Keells Holdings, ended steady while those in Distilleries Company of Sri Lanka edged down 0.2 percent. The two stocks collectively accounted for 72 percent of the day's turnover.

Shares in Ceylon Tobacco Company Plc fell 1.78 percent, while those in Sri Lanka Telecom Plc dropped 2.68 percent and Commercial Bank of Ceylon Plc fell 0.77 percent, dragging the overall index down.

($1 = 147.2000 Sri Lankan rupees) 

(Reporting by Ranga Sirilal and Shihar Aneez; Editing by Anupama Dwivedi)

Sri Lanka’s MTD Walkers losses up on rising costs

May 30, 2016 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s infrastructure solutions provider MTD Walkers posted losses of 266 million rupees in the March 2016 quarter, up 333 percent from a year earlier, amid engineering segment losses with rising sales and finance costs, interim accounts showed.

The troubled firm reported losses of 1.59 rupees per share against the 48 cents loss per share reported a year ago.

Revenues rose 55 percent to 4.6 billion rupees and cost of sales rose at a faster 101 percent to 4.0 billion rupees, making 611 million rupees gross margin, a 39 percent drop against a year earlier.

Other income turned to a positive figure of 5.2 million rupees from a negative figure of 5.0 million rupees last year.

Finance cost rose 135 percent to 408 million rupees in the March quarter resulting in a 314 million rupees loss in net finance income.

In the twelve months to March, the firm lost 531 million rupees, against a 765 million rupees profit reported a year ago.

A segment analysis for the 12 months showed profit of the group’s main civil engineering sector falling.

The profit from civil engineering fell from 1.6 billion rupees to 446 million rupees in the twelve months while the engineering segment loss further increased to 312 million rupees from 94 million rupees.

The marine engineering sector reported a loss of 1.3 billion rupees while trading business reporting a 93 million rupees loss.

Debt to equity ratio stood at 190.36 percent in 2016 compared to 126.30 percent reported in 2015.

By the end of 2016 financial year there were 2,357 public shareholders holding 9.22 percent of company shares.