Sri Lanka rupee extends gains on dollar sales by bank; stocks steady

Reuters:  ** Sri Lanka’s rupee closed firmer for a second straight session on Friday, helped by dollar selling by banks and after the IMF said it would resume discussions with the island nation for further disbursal of part of a $1.5 billion loan and the central bank chief said around $5 borrowing in the pipeline could help debt repayments. 

** Sri Lanka will receive a loan of $1 billion from Bank of China before the end of the January-March quarter, Central Bank Governor Indrajit Coomaraswamy told Reuters on Thursday, and is in discussions to borrow nearly $5 billion to help the country meet repayments in the coming months. 

** Sri Lanka is struggling to repay its foreign loans, with a record $5.9 billion due this year including $2.6 billion in the first three months. 

** After a meeting with Sri Lanka’s Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Wednesday the discussions would resume in February, after a political crisis led to talks being delayed by three months. 

** The rupee ended at 181.50/65 per dollar on Friday, compared with 181.60/75 in the previous session, with a foreign bank selling dollars, market sources said. On Jan.3, the rupee fell to an all-time low of 183.00 against the dollar. 

** The rupee fell 19 percent in 2018, making it one of the worst-performing currencies in Asia, according to Refinitiv data, due to heavy foreign outflows. 

** Coomaraswamy on Thursday said the sharp depreciation was a powerful “pro-growth inducement” for the country’s exports. 

** The rupee has declined 4.7 percent since a political crisis started in October. That crisis had dented investor sentiment and delayed Sri Lanka’s borrowing plans. 

** A series of credit rating downgrades have made it harder for Sri Lanka to borrow as it faces record high repayments. 

** The Colombo Stock Index ended 0.02 percent weaker at 5,988.07 on Friday. The benchmark index lost 5 percent in 2018. 

** Turnover was 660.8 million rupees ($3.64 million), less than last year’s daily average of 834 million rupees. 

** Foreign investors sold a net 410.5 million rupees worth of shares on Friday. They have been net sellers of 15.7 billion rupees worth of stocks since a political crisis began on Oct. 26. The bond market saw outflows of 77.9 billion rupees between Oct. 25 and Jan. 9, the latest central bank data showed. 

** Foreign investors pulled a net 22.8 billion rupees out of stocks last year, while they net sold 159.8 billion rupees from government securities from January through Dec. 26, bourse and central bank showed data. 

** For a report on major currencies, cli($1 = 181.4000 Sri Lankan rupees) 

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

Insurance Industry records 9.9% growth in GWP in Q3, 2018

Sri Lanka Insurance industry was able to achieve a growth of 9.96% in terms of overall Gross Written Premium (GWP), during the third Quarter of 2018,recording an increase of Rs. 11,757 million when compared to the same period in the year 2017. The GWP for Long Term Insurance and General Insurance Businesses for the period ending September 30, 2018 was Rs. 129,773 million

compared with the same period in 2017 amounting to Rs. 118,016 million posting a growth of 9.96% (Q3, 2017: 15.53%).

The GWP of Long Term Insurance Business amounted to Rs. 58,150 million (Q3, 2017:Rs. 51,893 million) recording a growth of 12.06% (Q3, 2017: 11.50%). The GWP of General Insurance Business amounted to Rs. 71,622 million (Q3, 2017: Rs. 66,123million) recording a growth of 8.32% (Q3, 2017: 18.89%).

The value of total assets of insurance companies has increased to Rs. 588,746million as at 30th September2018, when compared to Rs. 548,361millionrecorded as at end of 30th September 2017, reflecting a growth of 7.36% (Q3, 2017: 10.14%). The assets of Long Term Insurance mounted to Rs. 417,347 million (Q3, 2017:Rs. 387,461 million) indicating a growth rate of 7.71% year-on-year.

However, the growth of assets of long term insurance business has significantly dropped compared to 13.27% growth recorded during3rd quarter of 2017. The assets of General Insurance Business amounted to Rs. 171,400 million (Q3, 2017: Rs. 160,900 million) depicting a growth rate of 6.53%(Q3, 2017: 3.28%) at the end of 3rd quarter 2018. Accordingly, the growth of assets of general insurance business has shown a significant increase compared to the same period of 2017.

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All Sri Lanka's Hunas Falls stockholders get offer from Japan-backed Serenity Lake Leisure

ECONOMYNEXT - Serenity Lake Leisure (Private) Limited which gained control of Sri Lanka's Hunas Falls Hotel Plc on January 14 made an offer to purchase all remaining shares at 187 rupees, the company said.

Serenity Lake Leisure (SLL) said it will buy any shares purchase Hunas Falls shares for 187 rupees per share, which was the price at which the firm was bought over.

On Thursday, 11.4 percent of the firm's shares changed hands in negotiated trades for 187 rupees per share, which was the same price as the controlling shares.

Serenity Lake Leisure is owned by TAD Lanka Holdings (Private) Limited, which was founded in 2016 by Toshiaki Tanka, Atheeq Ansar and Dhanuka Samarasinghe with Japanese funds to invest in diverse interests.

SLL bought 66.20 percent of Hunas Falls shares from the Hayleys Group for 696.4 million rupees, paying more than double the price of 79 rupees on January 02.

At 187 rupees per share, Hunas Falls is now valued at 1.05 billion rupees, compared to a market value of 444.4 million rupees before the take-over.

The firm has an asset base of 402 million rupees.

Sri Lanka Tea Smallholder Factories Dec net up 47-pct

ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s Tea Smallholder Factories said net profit rose 47 percent to 13.7 million rupees in the December 2018 quarter from a year ago although it was still in the red for the nine months.

The company, in which John Keells Holdings has a 37.62 percent stake, reported earnings per share of 46 cents for the quarter in which sales fell 27 percent to 481 million rupees. .

Interim results filed with the stock exchange showed that for the nine months to December 2018 it made a loss per share of 50 cents compared with earnings of 1.82 rupees the year before.

In the December quarter, Tea Smallholder Factories, which makes black tea from leaves bought from small farmers, made lower profits in the southern Galle low country district where it has the bulk of sales.

The loss from its factories in the Ratnapura region rose to 12 million rupees while profits rose from its factories in the hill country Nuwara Eliya district.

The other two main shareholders of the firm are Akbar Brothers Limited with 24.39 percent and Central Finance Company with 22.85 percent.