Category: Industry
Sri Lanka east coast hotels planned by Hemas, Minor International
Nov 27, 2011 (LBO) – Thailand’s Minor International is to build more hotels in Sri Lanka in partnership with the island’s Hemas group and plans to re-open two existing properties after refurbishment and rebranding, officials said. Minor International’s Rajakarier said the Kani Lanka hotel in Kalutara, 80 percent owned by Minor and the balance by […]
Express Travel
Nov 27, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapaksa has opened the country’s first expressway running from the capital Colombo to the city of Galle, which will slash travel time to the south of the island. The 700 million US dollar expressway is built with loans from Japan and the Asian Development Bank. The […]
Asset Quality
Nov 25, 2011 (LBO) – RAM Ratings Lanka has upgraded LB Finance’s (LBF) long- and short-term financial institution ratings, from BBB+/P2 to A-/P2, with the long-term rating given a stable outlook. The rating agency has also revised upwards the long-term ratings of LBF’s debt issues, s statement said. “The upgraded ratings reflect LBF’s consistently expanding […]
Sri Lanka woos Sheraton India franchisee for hotel: report
Nov 25, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is in talks to with India’s ITC Ltd a franchisee of Starwood Hotels and Resorts’ Sheraton brand to build a 450 million US dollar hotel in a beachfront in the capital Colombo, a media report said. Reuters, a new agency quoted Sri Lanka’s Treasury Secretary as saying that […]
Sri Lanka, Thai hotel venture to build beach property
Nov 25, 2011 (LBO) – Thailand’s Minor International is to build a 160-room beach hotel on Sri Lanka’s south-west coast in a partnership with the island’s Hemas Holdings group at a cost of 25 million US dollars. Abbas Esufally, group director of Hemas Holdings, said Minor group which operates hotels under the Avani and Anantara […]
Sri Lanka tourist arrivals to hit target ahead of schedule
Nov 24, 2011 (LBO) – Tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka have been growing faster than expected and the island expects to achieve its original target of attracting 750,000 tourists for the 2011 year later on Thursday. In the nine months to September 2011, total arrivals rose 34.3 percent to 598,006, official data showed. Tourist arrivals […]
Currency Option
Nov 24, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Commercial Bank of Ceylon is now offering Non-Resident Foreign Currency (NRFC) accounts in Chinese yuan following its inclusion as a ‘designated currency’ by the Central Bank. A statement said the move comes several weeks after the bank began offering customers the option of transacting in yuan for export […]
Expressway Expertise
Nov 24, 2011 (LBO) – Japan will provide funding for an electronic toll collection ‘touch-and-go’ card system on Sri Lanka’s first expressway that is to be officially opened on November 27. The 95 kilometre southern expressway, linking the capital Colombo with the southern port town of Galle, is designed for 100 kilometres per hour speeds […]
Sri Lanka Lankem buys boutique hotel
Nov 23, 2011 (LBO) – Lankem Ceylon said it bought control of Galle Fort Hotel, a boutique hotel in Sri Lankan’s southern port town of Galle, for 772 million rupees. Sri Lanka is experiencing a boom in tourism with the end of the island’s 30-year ethnic war in 2009. The acquisition of 100 percent of […]
Lease Trend
Nov 23, 2011 (LBO) – People’s Leasing Co., Sri Lanka’s largest leasing company, said September 30, 2011 quarter net profit rose 65 percent to 790 million rupees helped by gains from vehicle sales and Islamic finance and lower provisioning. Earnings per share rose 73 percent to 64 cents in the quarter from 37 cents a […]
Telecom Levy
Nov 22, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has raised a levy on international calls with each outgoing minute charged 3 rupees from the current 2 rupees, a budget for 2012 presented to parliament said. Incoming calls will be charged 9 US cents per minute, up from the current rates of 7 US cents. The state […]
Live Trading
Nov 22, 2011 (LBO) – Millennium Information Technologies, a unit of London Stock Exchange that was founded in Sri Lanka said its software has gone lived at Bangladesh’s Chittagong Stock Exchange. The system was implemented by Polaris India. Installation, trials and final implementation had taken nine months. MillenniumIT chief Tony Weerasinghe said the systems will […]