Category: Industry
Sri Lankans hit Tamil Tiger tourist trail
KILINOCHCHI, May 19, 2010 (AFP) – The wreckage left by a brutal war has created a new tourist trail in Sri Lanka just a year after the Tamil Tiger rebels were crushed by government forces. “I make about 500 rupees (four dollars) a day,” says Kilinochchi native N. Seelan, who sells palmyrah-based sweets to tourists. […]
Made in where? Euro MPs want to know where clothes come from
STRASBOURG, May 18, 2010 (AFP) – The European parliament on Tuesday called for clothes sold in Europe to clearly show the country of origin, in order to easily identify products from nations where production costs are low. EU Industry Commissioner Antoni Tajani stressed the need to prevent dumping on European markets. The EU MPs, meeting […]
Sri Lanka Ceylinco Insurance net up 9-pct in March
May 18, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Ceylinco Insurance Company said net profits for the March 2010 quarter were up 9 percent to 110.5 million rupees from a year earlier though gross written premiums were flat at 4.4 billion rupees with lower general business. Basic earnings per share were 4. 19 rupees for the quarter, […]
Multi Finance
May 18, 2010 (LBO) – Ram Ratings Lanka said it had confirmed the ‘BB’- long term rating and NP short term rating of Sri Lanka’s Multi Finance Company Limited (MFL) and withdrawn it at the firm’s request. “On a related note, MFL’s performance has remained weak, burdened by hefty overheads.” Ram said while a one-off […]
Finance Numbers
May 18, 2010 (LBO) – Central Finance Company Limited (CFCL) group March quarter profits dipped 11 percent to 298.2 million rupees due to a steep jump in tax costs from a year ago, a stock exchange filing said. For the full year profits had dipped 7.1 percent to 1.0 billion rupees, its accounts showed. In […]
Sri Lanka Tokyo Cement sets up unit to sell excess power
May 17, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Tokyo Cement Company (Lanka) has set up a fully-owned subsidiary to sell excess electricity from a power plant at a cement factory to the island’s national grid. The company said in a stock exchange filing the subsidiary, Tokyo Cement Power (Lanka), will start commercial operations after getting the […]
Europe to lose 1,000 flights to volcanic cloud: Eurocontrol
BRUSSELS, May 17, 2010 (AFP) – The volcanic ash cloud playing havoc with airline schedules will mean the loss of 1,000 flights in Europe on Monday with airports in Britain and the Netherlands hit, the Eurocontrol agency said. The cloud was however expected to disperse over the day, Europe’s intergovernmental air traffic coordinating agency said, […]
Outsource Trends
May 17, 2010 (LBO) – Massachusetts-based Virtusa Corp., an IT services firm with operations in Sri Lanka, said net profit for the March 2010 quarter stayed flat at 3.6 million US dollars from the previous year. A company statement said the March quarter result was an improvement on the 2.9 million dollar profit earned in […]
Forex Hit
May 17, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Bank of Ceylon March quarter profits fell 13.2 percent to 664.7 million rupees from a year ago on lower foreign exchange income, while interest margins widened from lower interest expenses, its accounts showed. In the March quarter the group made a general provision of 334.4 million rupees, up […]
Box Trade
May 17, 2010 (LBO) – Cargo volumes at a Colombo port private terminal run by an associate firm of John Keells Holdings surged 25 percent in April 2010 to 166,797 containers from a year ago as trade recovered from recession, latest data showed. It was South Asia Gateway Terminals’ second highest-ever monthly volume, although down […]
Yard Trends
May 17, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lankan ship builder Colombo Dockyard’s net profit for the March 2010 quarter fell sharply as ship repair revenue came down despite an increase in earnings from ship building, a stock exchange filing said. The yard, which is majority owned by Japan’s Onomichi Dockyard, said net profit fell 48.7 percent […]
Margin Gains
May 16, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Commercial Bank of Ceylon said group profits grew 24 percent in the March 2010 quarter to 1,107 million rupees from a year earlier as interest margins improved and loan loss provisions fell. Amid low loan growth the group’s government securities held-to-maturity portfolio rose to 106 billion rupees from […]