Sri Lankan shares at more than 5-mth closing low; blue-chips drag

Reuters: Sri Lankan shares fell for a third straight session on Friday and ended at a more than five-month low, dragged down by diversified shares such as John Keells Holdings Plc, brokers said.

The Colombo stock index ended 0.14 percent weaker at 6,354.92, its lowest close since Dec 26.

“It was a slow day and we saw some foreign buying, which is a good sign. But most of the investors are waiting for better bargains,” said Hussain Gani, deputy CEO at Softlogic Stockbrokers.

“Economic concerns and the rupee depreciation are the key concern for investors.”

Most of the investors have adopted a wait-and-watch approach, hoping for some positive news on the economic front, analysts said.

Turnover was 326.2 million rupees ($2.05 million), a third of this year’s daily average of 975.8 million rupees.

Foreign investors bought net 12.5 million rupees worth of equities on Friday. The market, however, has witnessed a year-to-date net foreign outflow of 554.6 million rupees worth of shares.

A weaker rupee, political uncertainty and the recent fuel price hike weighed on sentiment in the past week with local investors remaining on the sidelines as they gauged the impact of the floods that killed 24 people in the island nation last month, brokers said.

The rupee touched a record low of 158.90 per dollar on Thursday owing to the greenback demand from importers.

Shares in the biggest listed lender, Commercial Bank of Ceylon Plc, fell 0.9 percent while Sri Lanka Telecom Plc ended 2.7 percent weaker. Conglomerate John Keells Holdings Plc ended 0.5 percent weaker and Access Engineering Plc lost 4.0 percent. 

($1 = 159.0000 Sri Lankan rupees) 

(Reporting by Ranga Sirilal and Shihar Aneez)

Sri Lankan shares end lower; blue chips lead

Reuters: Sri Lankan shares ended weaker on Thursday, after breaching the psychological barrier of 6,400, pulled down by blue-chip shares such as John Keells Holdings Plc , brokers said.

Foreign investors, who were net sellers for the fist time in five sessions, sold a net 114.3 million rupees ($719,773.3) worth of equities on Thursday, extending the year-to-date net foreign outflow to 576.1 million rupees worth of shares.

The Colombo stock index closed 0.57 percent weaker at 6,363.62.

Analysts expected a further decline in the index as there weren’t any positive news to boost market sentiment.

“The selling pressure is there after the index broke the psychological barrier of 6,400 on Wednesday,” said Dimantha Mathew, head of research, First Capital Holdings.

“We don’t see real positivity among the investors, and we expect the index to continue sliding till the next support level of 6,320.”

Most of the investors have adopted the wait-and-watch approach, hoping for some positive news especially on the economic front, analysts said.

Turnover was 545.7 million rupees, below this year’s daily average of 982.1 million rupees.

A weaker rupee, political uncertainty and the recent fuel price hike weighed on sentiment in the past week, as local investors mostly remained on the sidelines as they gauged the impact of the floods that killed 24 people in the island nation over the past two weeks, brokers said.

The rupee touched its record low of 158.90 per dollar on Thursday owing to the demand from importers for the greenback.

Shares in conglomerate John Keells Holdings Plc ended 0.8 percent weaker, while Lanka ORIX leasing Plc closed 3.6 percent and Distiller Company of Sri Lanka Plc ended down 1.8 percent.

($1 = 158.8000 Sri Lankan rupees) 

(Reporting by Ranga Sirilal and Shihar Aneez, Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)

Sri Lankan shares hover near 5-month closing low

Reuters: Sri Lankan shares ended slightly weaker on Wednesday, hovering near their lowest close in over five months hit earlier in the week, led by diversified shares such as John Keells Holdings Plc, while foreign buying helped boost the turnover.

Foreign investors bought net 188.4 million Sri Lankan rupees ($1.19 million) worth of equities on Wednesday. The market has witnessed a year-to-date net foreign outflow of 452.7 million rupees worth of shares.

The Colombo stock index closed 0.15 percent weaker at 6,399.91.

“Investors are worried over continued uncertainty. They are waiting for some positive news,” said Reshan Kurukulasuriya, chief operating officer, Richard Pieris Securities (Pvt) Ltd.

Most of the investors have adopted the wait-and-watch approach, hoping for some positive news especially on the economic front, analysts said.

Turnover was 510.1 million rupees, below this year’s daily average of 986.4 million rupees.

A weaker rupee, political uncertainty and the recent fuel price hike weighed on sentiment in the past week, as local investors mostly remained on the sidelines as they gauged the impact of the floods that killed 24 people in the island nation over the past two weeks, brokers said.

The rupee touched its record low of 158.80 per dollar last week owing to the demand from foreign banks and importers for the greenback, but ended steady on late inflows from remittances.

Shares in conglomerate John Keells Holdings Plc ended 0.6 percent weaker, while BRAC Lanka Finance Plc closed 9.7 percent down.

Foreign investors, who mostly sold shares of John Keells last week, bought the market heavyweight after low share prices “made it more attractive”, stockbrokers said.

MSCI Frontier Markets 100 Index, which captures large- and mid-cap representation across 29 frontier markets, removed Keells from its index, triggering the foreign selling.

($1 = 158.6000 Sri Lankan rupees) 

(Reporting by Ranga Sirilal and Shihar Aneez, Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)

Overseas Realty records Rs 1,147mn profit for 1Q -2018

Overseas Realty (Ceylon) PLC recorded a group revenue of Rs 1,402 million for the first quarter ended March 31, 2018, an increase of 142% over the corresponding period of last year. The group gross profit increased by 96% to Rs 849 million.

The group profit before tax grew by 37% to Rs 1,155 million and group profit after tax increased by 38% to Rs 1,147 million, compared to the previous period.

Revenue of Rs 557 million was recorded from property leasing at the World Trade Center (WTC) Colombo, an increase of 10% in comparison with previous period. The company expects to maintain good occupancy levels during 2018. Revenue from other services was Rs 98 million, an increase of 44% over the previous period. Revenue of Rs 747 million was recorded from apartment sales of Havelock City, compared to Rs 6 million in previous period.

Havelock City Phase 3 comprising two towers, Stratford and Melford with 304 luxury apartments is currently under construction with almost 45% completed and is expected to be handed over by mid-2019. Over 60% of Phase 3 apartments have been pre-sold as at March 31, 2018.

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Sri Lanka's CT Holdings March profits fall 33-pct

ECONOMYNEXT - Profits at Sri Lanka's CT Holdings, the parent company of supermarket chain Cargills, fell 33 percent from a year earlier to 202.7 million rupees in the March 2018 quarter despite real estate gains and lower finance costs, interim accounts showed.

The group reported earnings of 1.09 rupees a share, according to interim financial statements filed with the Colombo Stock Exchange. The stock last traded at 177.10 rupees.

"The challenging macro-economic environment adversely impacted operating margins of both the retail and wholesale distribution, and FMCG sectors," the company told shareholders in a stock exchange filing.

In the year to end March 2018, CT Holdings reported profits of 2.6 billion rupees, up 50 percent from a year ago, with revenue increasing 8 percent to 92 billion rupees.

"Profits were boosted by the profit on disposal of a property owned by the group. Proceeds from the sale were used to retire debt which resulted in lower borrowings costs during the last two quarters of the year," CT Holdings said.

In the March 2018 quarter, gross profit grew 13 percent to 2.6 billion rupees on revenue increasing 12 percent to 22.8 billion rupees and cost of sales also growing by 12 percent to 20.2 billion rupees.

Distribution costs fell 53 percent to 977 million rupees and administrative expenses declined 2 percent to 1.2 billion rupees.

Net finance costs fell 13 percent to 277 million rupees.

The group reported a gain of 850.2 million rupees on revaluation of freehold land.

During the year to end March 2018, profits from the group's retail business which includes supermarket chain Cargills fell 9 percent in the year to 2.8 billion rupees.

The group added 38 new outlets during the year taking the number of supermarkets to 353.

The fast moving goods business which includes dairy, agri, fresh and processed meats and confectionery saw sales increase by 6 percent to 2 billion rupees.

Real estate saw profits grow 226 percent to 1.7 billion helped by a 1 billion rupee gain from the sale of a parcel of property in Colombo for 4 billion rupees during the year.

The restaurants business which includes the KFC franchise saw profits grow 43 percent to 382 million rupees.

The group's movie business reported a 43 million rupees loss compared to a profit of 31 million rupees a year earlier, despite expanding its theatre network with four new screens in Gampaha and Nuwara Eliya.

The group also made a 255 million rupees gain from the disposal of a subsidiary of associate business Cargills Bank.

Sri Lanka's Melstacorp March quarter earnings surge

ECONOMYNEXT - Profits at Sri Lanka's Melstacorp surged to 3.3 billion rupees in the March 2018 quarter from 140 million rupees a year earlier, helped by business growth and a one-off gain, interim accounts showed.

Melstacorp has interests in alcohol, insurance, hotels, farming and telecom.

The firm reported earnings of 2.86 a share in the quarter. The share was trading 80 cents higher at 55.80 rupees on Tuesday.

Melstacorp saw gross profits increase 59.5 percent from a year earlier to 4.8 billion rupees in the March 2018 quarter, with revenue growing 19 percent to 12.5 billion rupees and cost of sales increasing at a slower 2.24 percent to 7.6 billion rupees.

Other operating income grew 176 percent to 1.5 billion rupees.

Dividends from equity investments increased 88 percent to 853.5 million rupees and a one-off capital gain amounted to 825 million rupees.

Net finance cost increased 27 percent to 248.7 million rupees.

Administrative expenses fell 3.35 percent to 1.2 billion rupees while other operating expenses grew three-fold to 1.4 billion rupees.

Income tax expenses rose more than two-fold to 1.46 billion rupees on account of new tax changes.

Melstacorp said it reported 1.6 billion rupees of impairment in its investment in a subsidiary Milford Holdings which controls Lanka Bell, a telecommunications company.

Earnings for the 12 months to end-March 2018 was 6.62 rupees a share, up 5.2 percent from a year earlier on a revenue of 110 billion rupees, up 0.87 percent from a year earlier.

For the 12-months to March 2018, the beverage segment which includes listed Distilleries saw profits fall 21 percent from a year earlier to 8 billion rupees.

The group's financial services businesses saw profits grow 39 percent to 416 million rupees. Businesses classified under diversified reported a 177 percent growth in profits to 1.1 billion rupees.

The plantations segment made a 147 million rupees profit compared to a loss of 343 million rupees the previous year. The telecommunications segment which includes broadband operator Lanka Bell saw losses increase 23 percent to 1.6 billion rupees.

Sri Lankan shares end higher, foreign buying boosts sentiment

Reuters: Sri Lankan shares ended firmer on Tuesday, recovering from their lowest close in over five months hit in the previous session, led by diversified and financial stocks while foreign investor purchases boosted sentiment.

Foreign investors bought net 182.9 million rupees ($1.16 million) worth of equities on Tuesday, but the market has witnessed a year-to-date net foreign outflow to 641.1 million rupees worth of shares.

The Colombo stock index closed 0.23 percent higher at 6,409.51.

“Market is positive mainly due to the foreign and local buying in John Keells and Sampath Bank,” said Hisham Haniffa, assistant manager, Softlogic Stockbrokers (Pvt) Ltd.

“Investors are picking up Keells after the recent sell-off.”

Most of the investors have adopted the wait-and-watch approach, hoping for some positive news especially on the economic front, analysts said.

Turnover was 680.6 million rupees, well below this year’s daily average of 991.1 million rupees.

A weaker rupee, political uncertainty and the recent fuel price hike weighed on sentiment in the past week, as local investors mostly remained on the sidelines as they gauged the impact of the floods that killed 24 people in the island nation over the past two weeks, brokers said.

The rupee hit a fresh low of 158.80 per dollar on Friday owing to dollar demand from foreign banks and importers, but ended steady on late inflows from remittances.

Shares in conglomerate John Keells Holdings Plc ended 1.9 percent higher, while Ceylon Tobacco Co Plc ended 1.0 percent up, Nestle Lanka Plc closed 2.7 percent firmer and Sampath Bank Plc ended up 2.4 percent.

Sri Lanka Telecom Plc closed 3.5 percent higher and Dialog Axiata Plc ended 1.4 percent firmer.

Foreign investors, who mostly sold shares of John Keells last week, bought the market heavyweight after low share prices “made it more attractive”, stockbrokers said.

MSCI Frontier Markets 100 Index, which captures large- and mid-cap representation across 29 frontier markets, removed Keells from its index, triggering the foreign selling.

($1 = 158.2000 Sri Lankan rupees) 

(Reporting by Ranga Sirilal and Shihar Aneez, Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)