RIL Property to develop United Motors land in Colombo 2

By Duruthu Edirimuni Chandrasekera

Commercial space owners, RIL Property PLC which bought 30 per cent in United Motors PLC on Wednesday morning, with officials saying that the latter’s potential for property development is large, will be developing the 280 perch block adjacent to their Parkland building in the long term.

“We will definitely capitalise on the land bank. We now own an ‘island’ really because there’re roads all around us. It makes perfect sense (this transaction) as we are also consolidating our land,” Hiroshini Fernando, CEO RIL Property told the Business Times. She added that it’s a good fit as all major developments were happening in Colombo 2.

United Motors PLC’s largest shareholder M.A. Yaseen sold some 30.27 million shares in United Motors PLC which traded in two large parcels on the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) at Rs. 78. The first parcel was 20,271,000 shares and the second was 10 million shares. Mr. Yaseen had 61.20 per cent in United Motors PLC, and is the largest shareholder. Mr. Yaseen continues to hold a 31.2 per cent stake in UML. He also owns 16 per cent stake directly in RIL. The Yaseen family owns 74 per cent in RIL Property.

Ms. Fernando added that the stake represents 30 per cent of the 61.2 per cent voting rights held by Mr. Yaseen in UML which has agencies for Mitsubishi and Perodua.

While the property in Colombo 2 is lucrative, the total land base that UML has is 17 acres.

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Amana Bank’s Q3 2017 pre-tax profit triples

After recently doubling its capital to over Rs 10 billion, Amãna Bank reinforced the confidence of its shareholders by tripling its Q3 2017 pre-tax profit to reach Rs. 186.1 million as against Rs. 62.9 million in Q3 2016.

For the nine months ending 30 September 2017, the bank recorded pre-tax profit of Rs. 397 million showcasing a significant YoY growth of 181 per cent from Rs. 140.9 million achieved in the corresponding period of 2016, the bank said in a media release.

Post tax profit for the same period grew by 163 per cent YoY to Rs. 266.8 million from Rs 101.4 million achieved a year ago. Despite doubling the bank’s number of shares as a result of the rights issue in July, the bank was successful in recording a 119 per cent YoY growth in its EPS whilst Net Assets Per Share stood at Rs 4.56 against the market price of Rs. 3.80 as at 30 September 2017.

Commenting on the performance to date, bank CEO Mohamed Azmeer, stated; “I am pleased to witness the bank’s successful performance during the first three quarters of 2017. This promising upward trend is owing to the revenue growth achieved by the bank demonstrating the unique value proposition of its model whilst gaining widespread acceptance. The avenues of growth, reflects our focus of being a retail and SME bank as well as adapting to new technological innovations in line with the bank’s 5 year strategic plan”.
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