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Sri Lanka Union Assurance 2009 net up 17-pct
Feb 26, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Union Assurance said net profit for the 2009 financial year went up 17 percent to 401 million rupees from a year ago as investment income rose sharply. Total annual revenue rose 19 percent to 6. 68 billion rupees, the company, in which John Keells Holdings has an 81 […]
Top Sri Lanka economist seeks parliamentary entry
Feb 26, 2010 (LBO) – Top Sri Lanka economist Harsha de Silva has been nominated as a candidate from the main opposition United National Party for parliamentary polls to be held in April. De Silva has been a firm critic of deficit spending, high inflation and weak macro-economic management and had managed to generate a […]
Sri Lanka crackdown shreds hopes of reconciliation
February 25, 2010 (AFP) – In the afterglow of his thumping re-election last month, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse promised to build a strong and unified country that would consign its 37-year civil war to the past. Instead, his government launched a sweeping crackdown that has seen the man he defeated at the polls, former […]
Sri Lanka inflation gathers speed to 6.9-pct in Feb
Feb 26, 2010 (LBO) – Inflation in Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo accelerated to 6. 9 percent in February 2010 from a year earlier, up from 6.5 percent January while prices increased 0. 2 percent during the month, the government’s statistics office said. Sri Lanka’s Colombo consumer price index (CCPI) has been rising steadily after April […]
IMF backs Sri Lanka central bank stance
Feb 26, 2010 (LBO) – The International Monetary Fund, which put a deal with Sri Lanka on the shelf till at least May on a runaway budget, has backed the monetary policy stance of the island’s central bank. The central bank met its two performance criteria under the 2. 6 billion US dollar deal, a […]
Sri Lanka shares becalmed
Feb 25, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lankan shares closed almost flat Thursday as many investors chose to hold and not trade with parliamentary elections due in April, brokers said. “The first full-year, post-war results would be comping out after the elections and the first quarter results. ” There were two private off-the-floor deals, one involving […]
Branch Expansion
Feb 25, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s HSBC unit has opened a new branch in the capital Colombo pushing the total up to 15, within weeks of starting a new branch in the northern Jaffna peninsular. The new branch in Maitland Crescent in the upmarket Cinnamon Gardens or Colombo 7 area also has a ‘premier […]
Banking Fortunes
Feb 25, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Nation Trust Bank (NTB) group December quarter profits rose 5.0 percent to 181.1 million rupees from a year ago, and full year profits were up 16 percent 686.1 million rupees. For the year non-interest income was up 8.0 percent to 1.9 billion rupees, and non interest expenses were […]
Commercial Profits
Feb 25, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Commercial Bank said group December quarter profits rose 8.3 percent to 1,207 million rupees while full year profits were up 1.7 percent to 4,191 million rupees. Basic earnings per share for the quarter were reported at 4.84 rupees and the full year at 16.80 rupees. In the December […]
Arabian Call
Feb 25, 2010 (LBO) – Etisalat’s new Sri Lankan mobile subsidiary said it plans to expand coverage to cover the entire island, offer high speed links and use its international group network to give preferential rates to win customers. “We’re here to stay in Sri Lanka,” Etisalat group chief marketing officer Essa Al Haddad told […]