Supreme Court declares forex bill consistent with constitution

(LBO) – Speaker Karu Jayasuriya today informed Parliament that the Supreme Court has declared that the proposed foreign exchange bill is not inconsistent with the constitution.

Speaker Jayasuriya however stated that the bill should only be presented to the Parliament subject to the amendments that has been declared by the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court determination states that:

“The Central Bank is not an autonomous institution. It is an agent of the government which would be accountable to the executive and the Parliament. The government will regulate the activities of the agent through the directions by the minister; through the member of the government. The minister can not give directions to the whims and fancies but only for the implementation of the provisions of the Act. The Central Bank is only an agent of the government and is subject to the government and not there to act on their own.”

The Supreme Court decision came after taking up three petitions filed by Parliamentarian Bandula Gunawardane, Attorneys-at-law Darshana Weraduwage and Nagananda Kodituwakku before court under section 121 (1) of the constitution.

Petitioners challenged the bill saying the bill shall become law only through a two-thirds majority in Parliament and the approval of the people at a referendum as it infringes Articles 03, 04, 12(1), 14(1)(g), 27(2)(a), 27(3), 148 of the Constitution.

The new law seeks to provide incentives for Sri Lankans having money outside the country to remit that money to Sri Lanka without having to face criminal penalties.

The proposed law has also incorporated provisions for the minister to intervene where foreign exchange outflows can be a threat to the national economy.

Sri Lanka Treasuries yields fall

ECONOMYNEXT - Sri Lanka's Treasuries yields fell across maturities at Wednesday's auction with the 12-month yield plunging 19 basis points to 10.83 percent, data from the state debt office showed.

The 6-month yield fell 17 basis points to 10.53 basis points.

The debt office did not offer any 3-month bills.

The debt office sold 16 billion rupees of 6-month bills and 17 billion rupees of 6-month bills totalling 33 billion rupees.

Sri Lankan shares fall on profit-taking in large caps

Reuters: Sri Lankan shares fell on Wednesday, retreating further from a near 11-month closing high hit on Friday, as investors booked profits in large caps such as Ceylon Tobacco Co Plc and conglomerate John Keells Holdings Plc.

The Colombo stock index ended down 0.67 percent at 6,563.85 with Ceylon Tobacco shedding 1.7 percent and John Keells declining 0.9 percent. Meanwhile, Selinsing Plc dropped 23.5 percent with 235 shares changing hands.

"After a long time, we saw significant profit-taking in some counters," said Dimantha Mathew, head of research, First Capital Holdings PLC. "The positive sign is that foreign interest is still there."

Analysts said the market will continue to be bullish amid some profit-taking.

Turnover was 608.04 million rupees ($4.00 million), less than this year's daily average of 898.8 million rupees.

Foreign investors net bought shares worth 60.1 million rupees, extending the year-to-date net foreign buying to 16.46 billion rupees worth of equities.

They bought a net 14 billion rupees worth of equities in the last 28 sessions with the bourse seeing inflows in 27 sessions. 

($1 = 152.1000 Sri Lankan rupees) 

(Reporting by Ranga Sirilal and Shihar Aneez; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)

RIL Property achieves Rs. 1.1 b Profit After Tax for FY17

RIL Property Ltd. (RIL), which recently concluded its successful IPO, has recorded a Group Profit After Tax of Rs. 1.1 billion for the financial year ended 31 March 2017 as per its unaudited financial statements. RIL’s result was supported by its strong performance in the commercial office space business and fair value gains in its significant real estate portfolio.

RIL has achieved a Net Profit After Tax excluding fair value gains of Rs. 315.4 million at the company level, driven by increased rental rates and occupancies in its flagship PARKLAND property, a 22-storey Grade ‘A’ office complex, amidst notable demand for high quality office spaces in Colombo.

The company also recorded fair value gains amounting to Rs. 854 million driven by the appreciation of value in its prime real estate portfolio.

The fair value of the properties has been ascertained based on an independent valuation carried out on 31 March 2017 by J. M. Senanayake Bandara, MRICS (UK), B.Sc. Hons (Estate Management and Valuation), Postgraduate Diploma (Land Settlement and Development), FIV (SL), IRRV (Hons, UK), Chartered Valuation Surveyor, in accordance with Sri Lanka Accounting Standards and International Valuation Standards.

It should be noted that the results of the RIL Group have exceeded the forecasts made by analysts covering the IPO for the financial period 2016/17 based on the unaudited interim financial statements for the period ended 31 March 2017.

RIL’s fully-owned subsidiary Foodbuzz Ltd, a franchisee of the BreadTalk Group based in Singapore, also continued its growth trajectory, recording revenue of Rs. 395 million for the financial year 2016/17. This amounts to a year-on-year growth of 37%, reflecting strong consumer demand and its outlet expansion strategy.

The franchise network in Sri Lanka currently operates seven outlets in the Greater Colombo region and intends to expand its network to 16 outlets by financial year 2020/21.

RIL issued 120,000,000 ordinary shares at Rs. 8 per share to the public via a Rs. 960 million IPO. The IPO was opened on 4 April 2017 and was oversubscribed within minutes of opening with healthy participation from investors with an appetite for the commercial office space segment. The proceeds of the IPO will be primarily utilised to refurbish an existing building, thereby increasing the Grade ‘A’ net rentable space of the company to 253,577 sq. ft.

Commercial Bank of Ceylon Plc and NDB Investment Bank Ltd. acted as the Lead Managers and Joint Managers to the IPO respectively. RIL’s shares will be listed on the Main Board of the Colombo Stock Exchange and will commence secondary market trading on 4 May 2017.

RIL to debut on CSE tomorrow

RIL Property Ltd. will debut on the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) tomorrow.

This is following the listing of 600 million ordinary voting shares of the company on the Main Board of the CSE. RIL, classified under the Land and Property Sector, had a successful IPO last month.
www.ft.lk