Category: Industry
On the Boil
July 26, 2006 (LBO) – Fears of another fuel shortage were sparked off on Wednesday as the government refused to give in to trade union demands and said it would seek a court order restraining unions. “We are trying to get a court order tomorrow (Thursday) for the newly appointed Chairman Asantha de Mel to […]
Aitken Spence Hotels re-brands its Maldivian properties
July 26, 2006 (LBO) – Aitken Spence Hotels re-branded its Maldivian properties under a new Adaaran brand, with six of its resort products coming under the new umbrella. The hotels will be branded in four tiers – Adaaran Select, Adaaran Club, Adaaran Prestige and Adaaran Ayurveda Village the company said Wednesday. The group also recently […]
Sharp Rise
July 26, 2006 (LBO) – Hatton National Bank, the island’s second biggest privately owned lender by assets, Wednesday posted a net profit of 506.46 million rupees for the three months to June, up 48 percent from 343.09 million rupees in the same period last year. For the six months to June, the group’s income rose […]
Early Lead
July 25, 2006 (LBO) – Chinese telecommunications firm Huawei Technologies is expecting around 30 percent gain in sales of third generation handsets within one-year of its release in Sri Lanka, officials said Tuesday. Huawei’s Product Manager P Sanjeev declines to say how many CDMA data cards have been sold so far. “Its hundreds and hundreds. […]
Just in Case
July 25 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is collecting all details of returnees from war torn Lebanon, to build up a stronger case in the event all affected people are given compensation. We cannot say from whom we are getting compensation, but from our side, we are getting ready for when the need and opportunity arises, […]
Trade Fiasco
July 25, 2006 (LBO) – India has said that few Sri Lankan vanaspati manufacturers have put in bids to resume exports of the vegetable oil, though both sides have still not agreed to conditions. India™s National Agricultural and Marketing Federation (NAFED) have received three offers for import of 20,000 metric tonnes of vanaspati from Sri […]
Breakthrough
July 25, 2006 (LBO) – The Sri Lankan government bought two weeks grace period from petroleum sector trade unions late Tuesday, with fuel stocks expected to hit Colombo city by midnight. Unions struck work demanding Asantha de Mel, the head of a key petroleum facility is removed, as they feared his appointment was the first […]
Empty Tank
July 24 (LBO) – An ongoing strike by trade unions at Sri Lanka’s petroleum distribution facility could cripple supplies at fuel sheds, if it continues over the next few days, top officials said. Unions are demanding the removal of a newly appointed chairman to a common infrastructure facility, Common Petroleum Storage Terminals Ltd (CPSTL). The […]
Txt Me
LONDON, July 24, 2006 (AFP) – Mobile phone text messages are changing the way people approach romantic relationships, according to a survey published Monday in the British newspaper The Times.More than half of mobile phone users aged 18 to 24 have sent or received an invitation to a date via text message, while a similar […]
Square One
GENEVA, July 24, 2006 (AFP) – Key negotiators have made no progress as they try to bridge persistent differences and end a deadlock in the World Trade Organisation’s struggling Doha Round talks on reducing trade barriers, diplomats said Monday. Crunch talks between six major trading nations on Sunday failed to deliver the much-needed breakthrough to […]
IFC to pilot online accommodation booking service for Sri Lanka
July 24 (LBO) – International Finance Corp is to pilot an online accommodation booking portal in Sri Lanka, so small and medium hotels can access global markets. The project to set up two online accommodation booking portals is driven by the South Asia Enterprise Development Facility (SEDF) an arm of the World Bank’s IFC. Plans […]
Finance Rating
July 24 (LBO) – Lanka Ratings Agency (LRA) has given a BBB3 rating to the deposit-taking finance company LB Finance. LRA said it had a favourable view of a management change since 2003, who had managed to improve the company’s asset quality and performance though the company still lagged the industry on both counts. LB […]