Sri Lanka state-carrier to cut UK flights, lease Heathrow slots: report

Feb 12, 2012 (LBO) – State-run SriLankan airlines is considering slashing flights to London from Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo from 12 to 7 a week and leasing slots at Heathrow to other airlines, a media report said. The newspaper quoted chief marketing officer G T Jayaseelan as saying that they had considered auctioning landing slots […]

Sri Lanka and Pakistan to boost trade

Feb 11, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka and Pakistan will boost bilateral trade to over two billion dollars by 2015 and promote the use of local currencies, a joint statement issued at the end of a visit by President Mahinda Rajapaksa to Islamabad said. Before the creation of state-owned dollar pegged central banks in South […]

Sri Lanka chases golf tourism

Feb 11, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state-run carrier is SriLankan is sponsoring an Asia Pacific tour event as part of efforts boost the profile of the island’s golf courses and boost up market sports tourism, officials said. “One way to get to the end user of our airline is through sports,” Srilankan Airlines chairman […]

Rating Cut

Feb 11, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Mercantile Investments Plc, has been downgraded to ‘BBB+’ from ‘A’ and its short term rating from P1 to P2 by Ram Ratings Lanka, on weaker asset quality and exposure to stocks. “The downgrade reflects MIL’s weak asset quality as a result of its high exposure to equity investments […]

Northern Finance

Feb 11, 2012 (LBO) – The Finance, Sri Lanka’s pioneer finance company has returned to pre-war premises in the island’s northern Jaffna city, where the economy is going resurging after the end of a 30-year war. “Every time I come to Jaffna I see new developments,” Central Bank governor Nivard Cabraal said at the ceremonial […]

Price Hike

Feb 11, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has steeply raised the price of diesel partially correcting chronic mis-pricing between refined fuels in a move that could also help reduce loans taken by petroleum distributors and stabilize a weakening exchange rate. Diesel may be now priced just around cost when freight, port levies and taxes are […]

Oil Outline

Feb 10, 2012 (LBO) – Net profit for the December 2011 quarter of the Sri Lanka unit of Indian Oil Corporation rose 3. 5 percent to 623 million rupees from a year ago, with a sharp rise seen in finance costs. Lanka Indian Oil Corporation’s December 2011 quarter sales rose 15 percent to 15. 4 […]

Fuel Poser

Feb 10, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is considering raising retail prices of fuel because of rising world oil prices, petroleum industries minister Susil Premajayantha said. Sri Lanka’s future oil imports will cost more as international prices have increased owing to cold weather in the Western hemisphere and uncertainty caused by sanctioned against Iran, he […]

Sri Lanka apparel firm goes carbon neutral

Feb 10, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka Hirdaramani Group, a big apparel exporter, said it has got carbon neutral certification for one of its factories, giving it an edge over competitors among environmentally conscious consumers. Acquiring ‘CarbonNeutral’ certification for its ‘Mihila’ factory “adds to our competitive edge against regional providers, the group said in a […]

Movie Moves

Feb 09, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka could attract Vietnam’s growing film industry to shoot on location, as the two countries shared many similarities, Hanoi’s envoy to the island Ton Sinh Thanh said. “Vietnam’s film industry is growing and Sri Lanka has many beautiful locations,” ambassador Thanh told reporters in Colombo. “At one time films […]

Liner Concentration

Feb 09, 2012 (LBO) – Shipping lines are coming together and concentrating their power to survive a downturn in trade that is causing losses but a recent freight rate hike might not last, Sri Lankan shippers have been told. In 2012, 253 vessels with a total capacity of 1. 4 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent container […]

Sri Lanka tea market in Middle East seen threatened

Feb 08, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka might be in danger of losing part of its market for tea in the Middle East, one of its biggest markets, as younger consumers are shifting away from the beverage. Hilmy Cader, chief executive of MTI Consulting, said his international management consultancy based in Bahrain had observed a […]

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