Category: Industry
Record Numbers
Mar 07, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Hatton National Bank group December quarter net profits were up 156 percent from a year earlier to 1,830 million rupees on loan recoveries and wider margins, while full year profits grew 58 percent to 4,483 million rupees. HNB reported earnings per share of 7.76 rupee for the quarter […]
Asset Probe
Mar 07, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court has ordered a probe on the purchase of a Ceylinco group firm by the chairman of Merchant Bank of Sri Lanka, a state-run bank, in the course of a court case relating to a failed financial firm, a media report said. Supreme Court Justice Shirani Tilakawardene […]
Sri Lanka tourist trade seen recovering fast
Mar 06, 2010 (LBO) – Over half-a-million tourists are expected to visit Sri Lanka this year as the travel trade bounces back strongly from the effects of a war with hotels so heavily booked that some are even refusing new reservations till end of March, officials said. Tourism authorities have planned an aggressive global promotion […]
Pocket Money
March 05, 2010 (LBO) – Etisalat’s new Sri Lankan mobile subsidiary is in talks with banks to offer financial services on mobile phones, such as money transfers for migrant workers in the Middle East, a senior company official said. Riyaaz Rasheed deputy chief executive of Etisalat Lanka said the mobile operator is seeking to tie-up […]
Sri Lanka former war zone highlighted in travel guide
Mar 05, 2010 (LBO) – Two British travel writers have published a guide book on tourist attractions in Sri Lanka’s former war zone in the north and east, now accessible to the visitors after 30 years of conflict. Juliet Coombe, a photojournalist for the BBC Lonely Planet guide book, and her co-writer Daisy Perry spent […]
Finance Offer
Feb 05, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Vallibel Finance, a unit of Vallibel group of entrepreneur Dhammika Perera, said it is selling down a 25 percent stake in an initial public offering on the Colombo Stock Exchange’s main board to raise 114.4 million rupees. “The funds will be used for new leasing, hire purchase and […]
Banking Move
Mar 05, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s NDB Bank said its chief executive Eran Wickramaratne has resigned from his post as he plans to enter parliament as a member of the main opposition United National Party. The bank said in a stock exchange filing that Russel de Mel, now serving as vice president – head […]
Pakistan marks one year since Sri Lanka attacks
LAHORE, March 3, 2010 (AFP) – Pakistan on Wednesday marked the first anniversary of a deadly attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team, striving to revive the game in the cricket-mad nation and forge a path out of isolation. Seven Sri Lankan players and their assistant coach were injured and eight Pakistanis killed when attackers […]
Sri Lanka to buy six transport aircraft from China: report
Mar 04, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is buying six Xian MA60 turboprop powered aircraft for a state-run airline and air force, from China, a media report said. The aircraft are being sold by China National Aero-Technology Import and Export Corporation (CATIC) finance by a government loan, Flight Global an aviation news portal said quoting […]
Water Supply
Mar 04, 2010 (LBO) – Two water supply purification plants supplying Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo will be upgraded with finance from Hungary, minister Gamini Lakshman Peiris said. A proposal to rehabilitate purification plants of the Labugama and Kalatuwawe reservoirs of Sri Lanka’s state-run National Water Supply and Drainage board has been approved by the cabinet […]
Senior Interest
Feb 04, 2010 (LBO) – A scheme to pay ‘bonus interest’ of one fifth above prevailing interest rates to senior citizens from January 01 would cost the people about 1. 2 billion rupees a year, a government minister said. The cabinet of minister had approved a proposal on Wednesday to pay extra interest for deposits […]
Home Loan
Mar 04, 2010 (LBO) – Pan Asia Banking Corporation (PABC) is looking to diversify its loan book by wooing customers to take its ‘Express Nivasa’ housing loan scheme that gives quick loan approvals to future home owners. “The housing sector went through some trouble last year,” A G Weerasinghe, chairman at PABC said. “Houses that […]