Category: Industry
Joint Effort
Dec 13, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s investment professionals body has tied up with the island’s software trade group to promote finance business process outsourcing, a statement said. SLASSCOM wants to help the IT-BPO industry increase export revenues. The deal aims to exploit growing demand for Sri Lankan financial professionals from BPO and information technology […]
Naval Amity
Dec 12, 2010 (LBO) – Warships from foreign navies, including India, joined Sri Lanka’s navy in a sail past Saturday amid improving maritime security co-operation to combat crimes on the high seas like human and arms smuggling. The Chinese navy sent the frigate ‘Lanzhou’ and Pakistan the frigate ‘Zulfiqar’ while the navies of Iran, Thailand […]
Sri Lanka fabric maker on rating watch negative after fraud allegation
Dec 10, 2010 (LBO) – Fitch Ratings said it placed Hayleys MGT Knitting Mills on ‘Rating Watch Negative’ after the Sri Lankan fabric manufacturer warned of losses when an inquiry revealed discrepancies in inventory and accounts receivables. Fitch has given Hayleys MGT Knitting Mills, a unit of the Hayleys conglomerate, a national long-term rating of […]
Sri Lanka Janashakthi Insurance rating upgraded
Dec 10, 2010 (LBO) – The claims paying ability of Sri Lanka’s Janashakthi Insurance has been upgraded to ‘A-‘ from ‘BBB+’ with a ‘stable’ outlook, on improving expense and claims ratios RAM Rating Lanka said. “Janashakthi’s rating continues to be supported by the Company’s strong competitive position in the general segment and its moderate underwriting […]
Inclusive Award
Dec 10, 2010 (LBO) – Dialog Axiata, Sri Lankan’s largest mobile firm, said a service which provides a virtual marketplace and delivers prices from key produce markets in the island has won a global award for mobile commerce. ‘Dialog Tradenet’ uses mobile text, voice and internet to deliver price information which is useful especially for […]
Card Push
Dec 10, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Sampath Bank is pushing strongly into credit cards and is already on the third slot and is on track to top 100,000 cards early in 2011, with overall credit conditions also picking up, a top official said. At the moment Standard Chartered and HSBC are the two biggest […]
Finance Rating
Dec 10, 2010 (LBO) – Fitch Ratings Lanka has confirmed Central Finance Company’s (CF) National Long-term rating at ‘A+(lka)’ with a stable outlook, a statement said. CF’s net interest margins improved to 13 percent in H111 largely due to an overall reduction in cost of funds. The agency has also assigned an ‘A(lka)’ rating to […]
Small Business
Dec 10, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has been included in an Asian Development Bank scheme where it invests in a private equity fund to expand microfinance and small business lending, especially to poor people, a statement said. The ADB will provide up to 10 million US dollars for an equity stake in the ShoreCap […]
Hot Potato
December 10, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lankan police arrested four people Friday, including a Pakistani national, after seizing 50 kilos (110 pounds) of high-grade heroin with a street value of one million dollars. The drugs were found packed in a container of potatoes in the port of Colombo, police spokesman Prishantha Jayakody said. Most drug […]
Fuel Switch
Dec 09, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is looking closely at using liquefied natural gas (LNG) for power generation and transport, according to a note by the island’s petroleum and power ministries. LNG is cheaper than diesel and LPG and also cleaner, producing less harmful emissions, and its high purity results in higher thermal efficiency […]
Sri Lanka CPC gets refuelling facility at new airport
Dec 09, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state-owned oil refiner has been given the go-ahead to fund the construction of an aircraft refuelling facility at a new international airport being built in the south, a statement said. It currently operates a refuelling facility at the island’s sole international airport at Katunayake, north of Colombo. The […]
Call Competition
Dec 09, 2010 (LBO) – The removal of a tariff floor by Sri Lanka’s telecommunications regulator could see the resumption of a price war that led to loss among mobile phone operators, Fitch Ratings has warned in a report. “Dialog also benefited from reduced tariff pressure within the mobile industry and its strong market share […]