Sri Lanka hotel group Citrus Leisure to drop Kalpitiya hotel

ECONOMYNEXT - Hikkaduwa Beach Resorts Plc, a unit of Sri Lanka's Citrus Leisure, said it was seeking shareholder approval to abandon plans to develop an Ayurveda Resort and Spa in Kalpitiya and will use 283.5 million rupees from anpublic offering to settle debts.

A feasibility study on the proposed resort found that Kalpitiya was not ideal location for the project after raising funds from a public offer, the company said.
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"The assessment was that Kalpitiya will not be an attractive location to build a star class resort in the foreseeable future due to several factors including the unavailability of required infrastructure facilities," the company said in a stock exchange filing.

Hikkaduwa Beach Resorts Plc will now dispose its lands and use the funds to develop other projects.

In 2017, the company, a unit of Sri Lanka's Citrus Leisure, absorbed three other listed hotel companies of the group as part of a restructure: Waskaduwa Beach Resort Plc, Kalpitiya Beach Resort Plc and Passikudah Beach Resort Plc.

Hikkaduwa Beach was trading 20 cents lower at 7.10 rupees Friday.

Sri Lankan shares hit near 4-wk closing high in thin trade ahead of holidays

Reuters: Sri Lankan shares on Thursday rose to a near four-week closing high led by financials amid lean trading ahead of the Sinhala-Tamil New Year this week, brokers said.

Markets will be closed for a public holiday on Friday on account of the New Year.

The Colombo stock index ended 0.51 percent higher at 6,483.92, its highest close since March 19. The index has gained 0.44 percent this week.

“It was a lacklustre day though the index rose. Most of the investors are on leave,” said Prashan Fernando, CEO, Acuity Stockbrokers.

“After the holidays, investors will be looking for political stability. It will be the key for investor confidence.”

Cabinet Spokesman Rajitha Senaratne on Wednesday said President Maithripala Sirisena will reshuffle the cabinet soon after some ministers defected the cabinet and voted for the no confidence motion against Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.

The day’s turnover was 356.9 million rupees ($2.29 million), less than a third of this year’s daily average of 1.16 billion rupees.

Foreign investors sold shares worth a net 102.1 million rupees on Thursday, extending the net foreign outflow from equities to 1.36 billion rupees.

Market sentiment improved after Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe survived a no-confidence motion last week, dealers said.

Capital Trust closed 4.3 percent higher, while top conglomerate John Keells Holdings closed 0.5 percent stronger.

The central bank unexpectedly cut its key lending rate by 25 basis points on Wednesday, as policy makers sought to revitalise an economy growing at its weakest pace in 16 years and facing heightened political uncertainty.

($1 = 155.6000 Sri Lankan rupees) 

(Reporting by Shihar Aneez; Editing by Vyas Mohan)