All Blogs
Re-pricing
July 04, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Sampath Bank is re-thinking the price of a rights issue and a share placement after market prices fell below the issue price, the bank said in a stock exchange filing.Sampath shares traded at 97 rupees on Friday. Sampath said the market price of the share dropped below the […]
” to oil surge: ADB
TOKYO, July 4, 2008 (AFP) – Asia’s emerging economies are “highly vulnerable” to skyrocketing oil prices, making inflation the number one concern for policymakers, the head of the Asian Development Bank said Friday.But emerging Asia looks set to avoid a sharp slowdown given strong economic growth in China and should easily avoid a repeat of […]
Biofuels behind food price hikes: leaked World Bank report
LONDON, July 4, 2008 (AFP) – Biofuels have caused world food prices to increase by 75 percent, according to the findings of an unpublished World Bank report published in The Guardian newspaper on Friday.The daily said the report was finished in April but was not published to avoid embarrassing the US government, which has claimed […]
High hopes for Asia at Beijing
SINGAPORE, July 4, 2008 (AFP) – Asian nations will without doubt bag plenty of medals at the Olympics but what is blindingly clear is that host China will outdo all its regional competitors.At the 2004 Games in Athens 15 Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) nations fought their way onto the medal table. A rampant China […]
Expelled Sri Lanka ex-warlord returns from Britain
July 3, 2008 (AFP) – A former Sri Lankan Tamil guerrilla leader expelled from Britain returned Thursday after serving a brief jail term on immigration charges, officials said. Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan, also known as Colonel Karuna and who was jailed in London in January, was escorted back to Sri Lanka, airport officials said. Karuna, who led […]
Sri Lankan share prices sink again
July 03, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lankan shares sank again Thursday with large trades in John Keells Holdings boosting turnover, brokers said.The All Share Price Index fell 0.55 percent (13.29 points) to end at 2,420.06 while the more liquid Milanka was down 1.11 percent (32.59 points) to 2,913.77. Turnover was 530 million rupees. “Foreigners were […]
Bond Deal
July 3, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Peoples’ Leasing Company (PLC) is selling a billion rupee 5-year bond to extend the maturity of its short term borrowings, Fitch Ratings which gave the security a ‘BBB+(lka)’ rating said. The leasing company, which is rated ‘A-(lka)’ with a ‘stable’ outlook, is planning to list the subordinated, unsecured […]
Bank Rating
July 3, 2008 (LBO) – Fitch Ratings Lanka has confirmed Sampath Bank’s local long-term rating of ‘AA-(lka)’ with a stable outlook. It also confirmed the ratings on the bank’s outstanding unsecured debentures of 3.3 billion rupees at ‘A+(lka)’, and the bank’s Individual and Support ratings at ‘D/E’ and ‘5’. “The ratings reflect Sampath Bank’s strong […]
Sri Lanka Maskeliya estate profits, management fees, up
July 3, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Maskeliya Plantations has reported a five fold increase in profits amid better export prices for tea, but steep management fees, interest and wages costs have kept profits in check.The firm charged 86 million rupees in interest to the profit and loss account, and said 183 million rupees on […]
Mediterranean tuna ranches feel pinch as EU halts fishing
MARSAXLOKK, July 3, 2008 (AFP) – Mediterranean tuna ranches are feeling the pinch after the European Union moved to prevent the depletion of fish stocks.“This year, we will probably process only 500 tonnes,” said Saviour Caruana, a co-owner of Fish and Fish, a bluefin tuna ranch with a capacity of 1,200 tonnes. “I had given […]