Category: Industry
Taking Flight
July 29, 2006 (LBO) – Malaysias top budget airline AirAsia is in talks to buy up a minority stake in local carrier Holiday Air, which is due to start international flights next year. Ruzaik says he hopes to have the technical plan for Holiday Air complete by October this year, after which recruiting for the […]
Back to Mommy
July 27, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s cabinet has transferred a third of petroleum assets held by the treasury to the state-run Ceylon Petroleum Corp, with immediate effect, government spokesman Anura Yapa said Thursday. Under the cabinet decision, around 3,500 CPSTL staff will rejoin the CPC workforce. The assets — which comprises 107 fuel sheds […]
Turbo Charge
July 27, 2006 (LBO) – Dialog Telekom, Sri Lanka’s largest cellular phone operator, Thursday posted a 43 percent increase in net profits for the six months to June, as subscriber growth lifted revenues. A unit of Telekom Malaysia, Dialog Telekom, reported a 4.93 billion rupee group net profit, while revenues soared 51 percent to 12.28 […]
Tsunami Alert
JAKARTA, July 27, 2006 (AFP) – Indonesian officials said Thursday they plan to install sirens on mobile phone towers to alert coastal areas to potential tsunamis, following a second killer wave in the archipelago nation in as many years. Installation of the sirens will be completed by the end of 2006, said Paryatmoko, tsunami early […]
Trade Freeze
GENEVA, July 27, 2006 (AFP) – World Trade Organisation nations endorsed on Thursday suspension of free-trade negotiations after they collapsed on Monday, diplomats and trade officials said. Several countries attacked the so-called G6 of leading trading powers for refusing concessions to open the way for a treaty and said that progress made so far must […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]