Author: lbostgadmin
Sri Lanka to start underwater sled rentals to tourists
Mar 08, 2010 (LBO) – An under water scooter rental firm is starting up in a tourist area north of Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo, to feed an upturn in the industry following the end of a 30-year war, the island’s investment promotion agency said. Mountcastle Marine recreational sports complex will be in Arachchikattuwa in Sri […]
Firm Pegs
Mar 08, 2010 (LBO) – Foreign exchange trading profits in Sri Lankan banks plummeted in the December 2009 quarter as a firmer currency peg with the US dollar reduced volatility emerging data showed. At state-run Bank of Ceylon group, the country’s largest commercial bank by assets, forex profits had fallen 96 percent to just 90 […]
Weak Finances
Mar 08, 2010 (LBO) – Fitch Ratings Lanka said it removed People’s Merchant Bank’s National Long-term rating from Rating Watch Negative and downgraded the rating to ‘BB+(lka)’ from ‘BBB-(lka)’. The rating agency said in a statement it also assigned PMB a Negative Outlook. “The rating actions reflect PMB’s weakened financial profile in terms of its […]
Cash Management
Mar 08, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s investment promotion agency said it has approved an investment by a unit of Lankaclear, the national clearing house, to provide cash management services to banks in rural north-central Anuradhapura. The Board of Investment said in a statement Lankaclear Cash Management, a joint venture by Lankaclear and Transnational Group, […]
Tax Opinion
Mar 08, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s taxes on motor vehicles are ‘prohibitive’ and are discouraging imports and government revenues, the finance ministry has said in a report, echoing the view of the motor vehicle trade. The finance ministry in a report issued under country’s fiscal responsibility law in February said excise taxes on motor […]
Sri Lankan stocks close 0.28-pct up on retail buying
Mar 08, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lankan stocks closed up Monday as retail investors bought low value shares and selected high value stocks, brokers said. The All Share Price Index closed at 3,835.06, up 10.89 points, while the Milanka index of more liquid shares gained 0.14 percent (6.26 points) to close at 4,393.89. Turnover was […]
‘s detained opposition leader threatens hunger strike
March 7, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s former army chief and defeated presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka has threatened to go on a hunger strike to protest against his detention, his wife said Sunday. However, he later fell out with Rajapakse and mounted a failed bid to unseat the president in elections. Fonseka will begin his […]
Tax Brake
Mar 07, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has to cut its high rate of tax on banks to allow the sector to build capital as the economy is poised to grow after a war ended last year, a top banker has said. Taxation has in the past and continues to be in the present a […]
Narrow Profits
Mar 07, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Pan Asia Banking Corporation’s (PABC) December quarter profits fell 70 percent to 19. 7 million rupees from a year earlier, on higher expenses and tax while full year net was up 73 percent to 387 million rupees on fee income. Full year interest income was up 10 percent […]
Record Numbers
Mar 07, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Hatton National Bank group December quarter net profits were up 156 percent from a year earlier to 1,830 million rupees on loan recoveries and wider margins, while full year profits grew 58 percent to 4,483 million rupees. HNB reported earnings per share of 7.76 rupee for the quarter […]
Asset Probe
Mar 07, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court has ordered a probe on the purchase of a Ceylinco group firm by the chairman of Merchant Bank of Sri Lanka, a state-run bank, in the course of a court case relating to a failed financial firm, a media report said. Supreme Court Justice Shirani Tilakawardene […]
”
March 6, 2010 (AFP) – India’s foreign secretary Nirupama Rao will hold talks with Sri Lanka’s president on resolving the grievances of the island’s Tamil minority this weekend, an official source said Saturday. India sent troops to supervise a 1987 Indo-Lanka peace pact and ended up fighting separatist Tamil rebels. After its troop withdrawal in […]