Category: Industry
Financial Reality
Aug 10, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lankan commercial banks which seem to enjoy wide interest margins on the surface have low profitability, amid high taxation and rising bad loans, a senior banker has warned.“Capital providers would probably not think of banks as a prime sector to invest in this market” Nihal Fonseka, chief executive of […]
Sri Lanka crushed by Pakistan in final one-dayer
August 9, 2009 (AFP) – Skipper Younus Khan led the way as Pakistan defeated Sri Lanka by 132 runs in the fifth and final one-day international here on Sunday.Younus top-scored with 76 and Misbah-ul Haq hit an unbeaten 73 to steer Pakistan to 279-8 after they won the toss and elected to bat in the […]
Sri Lankan hotel investment by Nepal firm Rs175mn: report
Aug 09, 2009 (LBO) – A Nepal conglomerate has paid 175 million rupees to buyout the Sri Lanka’s listed Hayleys group from two hotels it held jointly with the Jetwing leisure group, a media report said. Jetwing manages and part owns Lighthouse Hotel with the Hayleys group. It also manages listed Hunas Hotels, another Hayleys […]
Sri Lanka Jetwing expands overseas, links with Nepal firm
Aug 08, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Jetwing leisure group is expanding abroad, building links with foreign partners, including Nepal’s Chaudhary conglomerate which is also investing in the island, a top official said. But with the end of a 30-year war in Sri Lanka prospects at home are also looking up. The mainstay of Sri […]
Bank Fortunes
Aug 07, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Sampath Bank said profits for the June quarter went up 20 percent to 449 million rupees from a year ago on higher interest margins, fee-based income and loan recoveries, despite a shrinking loan book. Sampath Bank said in a stock exchange filing that group interest income for the […]
Minimum Price
Aug 07, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state-run ports authority will seek a higher royalty from the sole bidder to operate a terminal at Colombo, while keeping open other options including re-tendering, an official said. The bid to build and operate a container terminal at an extension to Sri Lanka’s main port is half the […]
Box Business
Aug 07, 2009 (LBO) – Container volumes rose again in July 2009 at a Colombo port terminal partly owned by John Keells Holdings whose transportation business has been hit by the trade slump and loss of a ship fuel monopoly. Relatively low margin transhipment traffic accounts for a growing proportion of SAGT’s total throughput, they […]
Sri Lank Aitken Spence eye war-torn areas for tourism
Aug 07, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Aitken Spence said it was eyeing tourism projects in the north and east of the island after the end of an internal conflict though group earnings dropped as arrivals slumped both at home and in the Maldives. “We are vigorously looking at opportunities in all sectors to partner […]
Sri Lanka Keells Hotels halves losses
Aug 07, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s John Keells Hotels said it had halved losses in the June 2009 quarter to 150 million rupees from a year ago as tourists arrivals slumped with the global recession.But the continuing fall in arrivals, low occupancy levels and increased competition and capacity, could affect their performance in the […]
Sri Lanka insurance regulator suspends Ceylinco Takaful
Aug 06, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s insurance regulator, the Insurance Board of Sri Lanka, has suspended the registration of Ceylinco Takaful for general insurance for three weeks, the government information department website said.It gave no further details. The suspension imposed on Ceylinco Takaful Limited remains till August 26, 2009, it said.It quoted the IBSL […]
Knowledge Wiki
Aug 06, 2009 (LBO) – Lankapedia, a newly launched Sri Lanka specific site styled on the popular Wikipedia portal, is setting the stage to make user generated content about the island more popular, officials said. “I think user generated content is the future,” says Rohan Samarajiva, head of LirneAsia, a regional think tank that has […]
Common Cause
Aug 06, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s transport and logistics professionals are to form a ‘logistics directors’ forum’ that aims to get industry leaders together to work for common objectives, a senior official said. “The general impression we got from all of them was that logistics is a key area for the country which we […]