Author: lbostgadmin
On Cue
Feb. 17 (LBO) – Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) said Friday, group net profits for the fourth quarter of 2005 topped Rs. 604 million, despite continued losses from its mobile subsidiary and a levy on international calls. The cash rich dominant fixedline operator posted net profits of Rs. 3,093 million, while revenues surged 10 percent to […]
Missing Numbers
Sri Lanka’s telecom watchdog on Friday gave a 15 day ultimatum to seven telco firms for delays in presenting their financial statements. Firms failing to comply with the order by the deadline begining February 17, will be slapped with fines or an embargo on regulatory approval for tariff, equipment imports and frequency allocation. The Telecommunication […]
Digging Deep
Feb. 17 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Seylan Bank Friday announced plans to boost capital by a billion rupees through a rights issue. The bank plans to issue 83.5 million in non-voting shares each at Rs. 12.50 to both voting and non-voting shareholders, Company Secretary M R S Gunasekara said in a statement to the stock […]
Sri Lanka plans rated bond to restructure debt
Feb. 17 (Dow Jones)– Sri Lanka wants to float an international bond this year to gauge market response as well as see if it can raise debt at a reasonably low interest rates, the treasury secretary said Thursday. The treasury is awaiting a response from Citibank advising on the size of the issue, which could […]
Re-birth
Jan 16 (LBO) – Sri Lanka™s Registrar General™s Department will computerise its database of birth certificates issued since 1864, for easier access to public records. The country has no proper computerized birth certificate, death certificate and land deed database, with paper certificates still clogging up the system. The Registrar General of Sri Lanka Mr. L.K. […]
Trend Setter
Feb. 16 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Ceylinco Insurance Co. Ltd. said Thursday that they retained their market leadership in the insurance sector last year, with consolidated premium income of Rs 12.8 billion and a 32 percent market share in both Life and General insurance segments. Ceylinco Life saw premium income rise 21 percent to Rs. […]
Climbing Up
Feb. 16 (LBO) – State owned People’s Bank is hoping for a credit upgrade in the near future, a top official said. General Manager Asoka de Silva says a recent capital injection has strengthened its balance sheet, and profitability remains on track. “We are hoping that our rating would go up by at least one […]
Road Runner
Feb. 16 (LBO) – Transport experts say more private vehicles are coming into Colombo despite a drop in the number of people traveling to the city. Fewer bus runs and appalling service levels on public transport contributed to the rise in private vehicles entering Colombo, former National Transport Commission chief Prof. Amal Kumarage said Thursday. […]
‘s Central Bank stays pat on interest rates
Feb. 16 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Central Bank Thursday stayed put on policy rates for the second straight month, as it expects the 25-basis point hike last December to put the brakes on money supply growth. Overnight repurchase rate remains at 8.75 percent and the reverse repurchase rate stays at 10.25 percent, the bank said […]
Sri Lankan taxpayers too afraid of tax collectors to complain about mistreatment
Jan 15 (LBO) – Sri Lankan tax payers are too afraid of retaliation by tax collectors to complain about mistreatment. Sri Lanka appointed a tax ombudsman in September 2005 to mediate between the Department of Inland Revenue and the island’s small number of tax payers, as a way of easing strained relations. However the tax […]
Betting Big
Feb. 15 (LBO) – Smaller lubricant players are asking the Sri Lankan government to scrap a five-year license fee and instead opt for a 0.5 percent tax on each firm’s turnover, an industry official said Wednesday. Last month, Sri Lanka doubled licence fees for lubricant operators fixing it at Rs. 10 million (US$ 100,000) for […]
Lead Runner
Feb. 15 (LBO) – Deutsche Bank’s Colombo branch has retained the top spot for custodian services among four key foreign banks operating in Sri Lanka, according to a global custodian review of emerging markets -LBO Newsdesk: LBOEmail@ The seventeenth global custodian survey, which covered 61 emerging markets, ranks agent banks based on client responses. Respondents […]