Sri Lankan stocks slip from over 3-month high on profit-taking

Reuters: Sri Lankan shares on Thursday snapped a five-session winning streak and eased from a more than three-month high on profit-booking, while foreign buying in Commercial Bank Plc boosted the daily traded turnover.

Hopes of political stability after two key parties decided to remain in the ruling coalition, allayed fears of a government collapse and that helped heavy buying to boost the day’s turnover.

The Colombo stock index ended 0.41 percent weaker at 6,571.73, slipping from its highest close since Nov. 6, 2017 hit on Wednesday.

Turnover stood at 1.54 billion rupees ($9.93 million), well above the year’s daily average of 869.6 million rupees.

Foreign investors bought a net 660.5 million rupees worth of shares, extending net foreign buying to 6.4 billion rupees worth of equities so far this year.

“There was a bit of selling today. Basically, what ever stocks moved up over the last few days were sold ... may be due to profit-taking by a fund,” said Dimantha Mathew, head of research, First Capital Holdings.

“A large block of Commercial Bank shares was bought by foreigners, boosting the turnover.”

Shares in Ceylon Tobacco Company Plc fell 2.9 percent while conglomerate John Keells Holdings Plc lost 0.5 percent and Dialog Axiata Plc ended 0.7 percent down.

Shares in biggest listed lender Commercial Bank of Ceylon Plc, which accounted for 52.6 percent of day’s turnover, ended 0.7 percent up.

The index dropped 0.13 percent last week, ending a three-week winning streak.

($1 = 155.1500 Sri Lankan rupees) 

(Reporting by Ranga Sirilal and Shihar Aneez; Editing by Vyas Mohan)

Sri Lankan stocks hit over 3-month high; bluechips lead

Reuters: Sri Lankan shares ended higher for a fifth straight session on Wednesday led by bluechips on hopes of political stability after two key parties decided to remain in the ruling coalition, allaying fears of a government collapse.

The Colombo stock index ended 0.32 percent firmer at 6,598.73, its highest close since Nov. 6, 2017.

“Interestingly, we saw some buying interest in blue chips and especially foreign interest is picking up,” said Dimantha Mathew, head of research, First Capital Holdings.

“Now that things are settling down, buying interest in bluechips is improving with continued retail buying.”

The two key coalition parties that were routed in a local election last week, sparking concerns of political instability, on Wednesday told the parliament that their government will continue.

Turnover stood at 829.4 million rupees ($5.35 million), marginally below the year’s daily average of 849.4 million rupees.

Foreign investors bought a net 171.6 million rupees worth of shares on Wednesday, extending net foreign buying to 5.8 billion rupees worth of equities so far this year.

Shares in Dialog Axiata Plc ended 0.7 percent higher, while conglomerate John Keells Holdings Plc gained 0.5 percent. The biggest-listed lender, Commercial Bank of Ceylon Plc, closed 1.5 percent firmer.

The index dropped 0.13 percent last week, ending a three-week winning streak. 

($1 = 155.1500 Sri Lankan rupees) 

(Reporting by Ranga Sirilal and Shihar Aneez; Editing by Vyas Mohan)

Sri Lankan stocks end at over 3-month high on hopes of political stability

Reuters: Sri Lankan shares ended higher for a third straight day on Tuesday on hopes of political stability after the prime minister decided to stay in office and reshuffle his cabinet in the wake of a stinging loss in local elections for both parties in the ruling coalition.

The coalition parties held a cabinet meeting on Tuesday and said the island nation’s government plans to continue their tenure.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s centre-right United National Party (UNP) and President Maithripala Sirisena’s centre-left Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) were routed by a party backed by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa in local polls on Feb. 10, plunging the government into a crisis.

The Colombo stock index ended 0.19 percent firmer at 6,577.84, hitting their highest close in more than three months.

“With signs of stability coming in, investors are re-entering the market. Foreign investors are also returning slowly,” said Dimantha Mathew, head of research, First Capital Holdings.

Turnover stood at 860.2 million rupees ($5.54 million), in line with the daily average of 850 million rupees.

Foreign investors bought a net 72.3 million rupees worth of shares on Tuesday, extending the net foreign buying to 5.6 billion rupees worth of equities so far this year.

Shares in Ceylon Cold Stores Plc ended 5 percent higher, while conglomerate John Keells Holdings Plc closed up 1.2 percent, Vallibel One Plc ended up 7.9 percent and the biggest-listed lender Commercial Bank of Ceylon Plc ended 0.7 percent firmer.

The index dropped 0.13 percent last week, after marking three straight weekly declines.

($1 = 155.3500 Sri Lankan rupees) 

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

Sri Lankan stocks steady in dull trade; political woes weigh

Reuters: Sri Lankan shares ended steady on Monday in thin trade amid political uncertainty after both parties in the ruling coalition suffered defeats in a local election earlier this month.

Turnover stood at 288.4 million rupees ($1.9 million), well below the daily average of 849.7 million rupees.

The Colombo stock index ended 0.03 percent firmer at 6,565.63, its highest close since Feb. 9.

Shares in Melstacorp Ltd rose 7 percent, while Trade Finance Plc gained 16.8 percent.

The index fell 0.13 percent last week, after gaining for three straight weeks.

“Very slow day as investors are waiting for political direction after the election debacle,” said Dimantha Mathew, head of research at First Capital Holdings.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s centre-right United National Party (UNP) and President Maithripala Sirisena’s centre-left Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) were routed by a party backed by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa in local polls on Feb. 10, plunging the government into crisis.

Since the results, both parties have locked horns on how best to continue in the government. Sirisena’s party wants to form its own government, his party ministers have said, while Wickremesinghe’s party has said it is in the process of forming its own government.

Wickremesinghe, addressing the media on Friday said that the government will continue with a reshuffle of the cabinet.

Foreign investors bought a net 20.7 million rupees worth of shares on Monday, extending the net foreign buying to 5.5 billion rupees worth of equities so far this year. 

($1 = 155.3000 Sri Lankan rupees) 

(Reporting by Ranga Sirilal and Shihar Aneez; Editing by Amrutha Gayathri)

Janashakthi posts Rs.13, 759 mn income for 9 months ending Dec 31

Janashakthi PLC group posted a total income of Rs.13, 759 million for the nine months ended December 31, 2017 which is an increase when compared to Rs. 12,922 million in the corresponding period of the previous year.

Chief Executive Officer Ramesh Schaffter said this represents an increase of 6.4% year on year. Group loss after tax was Rs. 515 million against the Rs. 334 million profit recorded for the corresponding period of the previous year.

The asset base of the group stood at Rs. 57 billion, Janashakthi PLC reported a total income of Rs. 162 million for the 06 months ended December 31, 2017, compared to 146 million in the previous year.

The company’s main subsidiary, Janashakthi Insurance PLC reported a consolidated profit after tax of Rs. 507 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2017 when compared to Rs. 789 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2016.

Profitability was adversely affected by high claims in both the fire and engineering and the medical segment during the period under review. At 30 September 2017, the Janashakthi Insurance PLC had an asset base of Rs. 35.7 billion with a market capitalization of Rs. 8.1 billion.

The prudent management of investments by Janashakthi Insurance PLC helped increase the investment income by Rs. 441 million which is a remarkable increase of 32% over the previous year.

This was the mainstay for the increase in Other Revenue which reached Rs. 2,241 million, an increase of Rs. 515 million over the same period last year. The company recorded a total income of Rs. 2.58 billion for the 09 months ended 31 December 2017 when compared to Rs. 2.41 billion in the corresponding period of the previous year. This represents an increase of 7% year on year. 

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Ceylinco General Insurance records premium income of Rs. 18 bn

Ceylinco General Insurance Ltd., announced excellent results for the financial year ended December 31, 2017, recording yet another exceptional year.

Ajith Gunawardena, Chief Executive Officer of Ceylinco General Insurance, said: “During 2017, the company recorded a premium income of Rs 18 billion (Rs 17,977 million), with an impressive growth of 11.5%, which signifies an increase of Rs. 1.9 billion over the previous year. When considering the stiff competition that exists in the market, last year’s performance was outstanding. Despite the price undercutting practiced by some players, customers have understood the value of Ceylinco VIP on the Spot.”

“We believe in providing a superior service to our customers and our differentiation is not on price but on our exemplary claim settlement and the value we add to our products and services. We have worked hard together and surpassed expectations and our own benchmarks. We remain committed in exercising disciplined control and maintaining far-sighted leadership.”

Elaborating further on the remarkable figures, Patrick Alwis, Managing Director of Ceylinco General Insurance Ltd, said, “Ceylinco General Insurance paid claims amounting to Rs 9 billion (Rs. 8,967 million) during 2017, settling all genuine claims within 24 hours. This includes the large number of flood and cyclone claims that were paid within a period of 14 days, enabling customers to return to normalcy in the fastest possible time. We are the only company to do so.”
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Softlogic Holdings to raise over Rs.7 billion

Softlogic Holdings PLC is to raise over Rs.7 billion for the purpose of restructuring the balance sheet and improving key capital ratios by way of a private placement, rights issue and internal restructuring. said its Chairman, Ashok Pathirage.

“Going forward this exercise would no doubt reduce finance cost and significantly impact our credit rating,” he added.

Commenting on their interim results for period ending December 31, 2017 he said that for a consumer-retail-focused conglomerate such as Softlogic, a challenging operating climate was witnessed during the period. “This was especially evident in the retail sector, which was further compounded by the high interest rate regime, the rising inflation levels, the inclement weather and the VAT increase.”

Despite these systemic challenges, Group revenue grew 10.3% to Rs.49.4 billion during the first nine months of this financial year while the quarterly revenue grew 17.7% to Rs. 18.3 billion. (bn)

Cumulative Group top-line witnessed a contribution of 31.8% from the retail sector followed by ICT (26.3%), healthcare services (18.2%), financial services (16.3%) and leisure (3.5%). gross profit increased 22.5% to Rs. 17.6 bn during the 1-3Q-FY18 reflecting strong GP margin improvement from 32.1% in 1- 3QFY17 to 35.7% in 1-3QFY18.

The quarter too registered GP margin improvements from 33.3% in 3QFY17 to 35.3% in 3QFY18 pushing the quarterly gross profit to Rs. 6.5 bn (up 24.9%).

Distribution and administrative expenses increased 10.8% and 14.4% to Rs. 2.5 bn and Rs.9.8 bn respectively during the period resulting in the total operational expenses, which now includes Movenpick Hotel Colombo, to increase to Rs. 12.3 bn (up 13.6%) while maintaining the operating cost margins at 24% levels during 1-3QFY18.

Quarterly operational cost increase remained moderate at 8.8% to Rs. 4.3 bn Other operating income for the period was to Rs. 1.9 billion (Rs. 741.5 mn in 1-3QFY17).

Cumulative operating profit improved 67.2% to Rs. 7.2 bn while the quarter registered 124.3% increase to Rs. 3.1 bn

Finance Income which primarily consists Softlogic Life Insurance PLC’s investment portfolio’s performance, increased 52.6% to Rs. 879.5 million during the nine-month period while the quarter registered 87.9% growth to Rs. 308.2 million.

“We are awaiting the launch of Asiri Hospital Kandy, which would be the first state-of-theart 190-bed hospital to cater to the Central, North and Eastern provinces. This facility will include state-of-the-art technology specializing in cardiac, some of which will certainly be a first for the region.

“Odel will take 100,000 sq.ft of mall space in Shangri La which is expected to open in June 2019 and plans are progressing well to unveil one of the city’s authentic malls The Odel Mall in 2020.”
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