‘s Talawakale Tea profits in the red

Aug 06, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Talawakele Tea Estates Plc said it made a loss of 3.0 million rupees in the June 2013 quarter down from a profit of 26 million rupee a year earlier.

The firm reported a loss of 13 cents per share. In the six months to June the firm reported earnings of 3.

47 rupees per share on total profits of 82.
3 million rupees helped by a strong first quarter.

The stock closed at 22.80 rupees Monday.

The firm said revenues rose 19 percent to 919 million in the June 2013 quarter from a year earlier but direct costs rose at a faster 25 percent to 873 million rupees, shrinking gross profits to 41 percent to 45.
6 million rupees.

Other income and gains rose 64 percent to 12.1 million rupees.

Sri Lanka’s tea farms have been hit by higher wages following a new agreement with unions and weaker production due to higher rainfall.

The firm gets most of its revenues from tea and has a small volume of rubber.