Sri Lanka’s Hemas to focus on specialised health care, lab services

ECONOMYNEXT - Hemas Holdings will be focusing on improving specialised health care services at its two remaining hospitals, following the sale of its hospital in Galle, and laboratory services, a Colombo Stock Exchange filing said.

Its two remaining hospitals, in Thalawathugoda and Wattala, have a combined capacity of 184 beds. It also has an islandwide network of 34 diagnostic laboratories.

Asiri Hospital Holdings Plc acquired Hemas Southern Hospitals (Private) Limited for 450 million rupees last Friday, increasing its hospitals to five.

Hemas Holdings’ stocks were up 5.40 rupees to 93.40 rupees when markets closed on Monday.

Asiri Hospital Holdings’ stocks were down 20 cents to 22.80 rupees.

Sri Lanka's Asiri acquires Hemas Galle for Rs.450mn

ECONOMYNEXT - The Softlogic Group subsidiary Asiri Hospital Holdings Plc acquired Hemas Southern Hospitals (Private) Limited for 450 million rupees last Friday, a disclosure to the Colombo Stock Exchange said.

"The decision to enter into this transaction brings tremendous synergy to the Asiri group with the existing hospuitals and laboratories of Asiri in the southern region," the company said.

The former Hemas Group subsidiary operates the Hemas Galle hospital, which was commissioned in 2009 and has 50 beds. It was one of three Hemas hospitals.

Private healthcare is expected to play a greater part in Sri Lanka, with a rapidly ageing population, economic growth and increasing insurance penetration.

Following the acquisition, Asiri now has five hospitals with three in Colombo, one in Matara and the new unit in Galle. The bed capacity of Asiri has expanded to 634.

Another hospital with 175 beds is expected to open in Kandy next year.

Asiri's shares were trading Monday morning at 23 rupees, flat from the previous close on Friday.

The firm's net profits were up 1.8 percent from a year earlier to 392.8 million rupees in the September quarter.

Sri Lanka's Cinnamon Lakeside Hotel revenues, profits slump

ECONOMYNEXT - Trans Asia Hotel Plc, the owner of Cinnamon Lakeside Hotel in Sri Lanka's capital Colombo said profits fell 49 percent from a year earlier to 76.5 million rupees, in the September 2018 quarter, with revenues falling 15 percent.

The firm reported earnings of 38 cents per share in interim accounts filed with the Colombo Stock Exchange.

In the six months to September the hotel reported earnings of 52 cents per share on total profits of 104 million rupees, which were down 53 percent.

Colombo's older 5-star hotels have been hit by the entry of newer properties at both the high and low ends. Properties like Shangri-La have also attracted banquet business, industry analysts say.

Meanwhile price floors in Colombo may also be making it less easy for Colombo to compete with East Asia and new smaller properties outside Colombo.

Revenues fell 15 percent from a year earlier to 723 million rupees in the quarter, with cost of fell 16 percent to 294 million rupees, but gross profits fell 13 percent to 429 million rupees.

Sri Lankan rupee falls on uncertainty after heavy foreign outflow; stocks down

Reuters: ** The Sri Lankan rupee ended weaker on Monday as outflows from stocks and government securities due to political uncertainty raised dollar demand.

** Stocks slipped for the second session running, moving further away from their nearly two-month closing high hit last week. Foreign investors sold shares as the political crisis continued after the speaker of parliament said on Monday he would not recognise President Maithripala Sirisena’s sacking of Ranil Wickremesinghe and appointment of Mahinda Rajapaksa as the prime minister.

** The rupee ended at 174.45/60 per dollar on Monday, compared with the previous close of 174.30/50. The rupee has dropped 0.8 percent since the political crisis began on Oct. 26.

** The rupee hit a record low of 175.65 per dollar on Thursday.

** The rupee weakened 3.7 percent in October after a 4.7 percent drop in September against the dollar. It has dropped 13.5 percent so far this year.

** Since the prime minister’s sudden sacking, 7.02 billion rupees has flowed out of the stock market while the bond market saw an outflow of around 11 billion rupees between Oct. 25-31, central bank data showed. So far this year, the island nation has seen 16.5 billion rupees in outflows from stocks and 100.8 billion rupees from government securities, bourse and central bank data respectively showed.

** Sri Lanka’s speaker of parliament said on Monday he would not accept former president Mahinda Rajapaksa as the new prime minister until he proves he commands a majority in parliament.

** The opposition leader Rajapaksa was appointed prime minister on Oct. 26 after President Sirisena dismissed the incumbent in a surprise move that threatens political turmoil in the South Asian country. 

** The appointment of Rajapaksa prompted protests and a demand for parliament to be called to allow lawmakers to choose their leader. The return of Rajapaksa, a former president who crushed a decades-old Tamil insurgency, has stoked fears of fresh political and ethnic division in the island nation of 21 million mostly Sinhalese Buddhists, with Tamil and Muslim minorities.

** The Colombo stock index dropped 0.49 percent to 6,062.09. It hit a near two-month high on Thursday. The bourse rose 4.5 percent last week due to heavy retail investor participation. It has slipped around 4 percent so far this year.

Stock market turnover was 4.13 billion rupees on Monday, more than five times this year’s daily average of 814.7 million rupees.

($1 = 174.4000 Sri Lankan rupees) 

(Reporting by Shihar Aneez; editing by David Stamp)