Category: Industry
Box Bug
May 30, 2009 (LBO) – Ships calling at Colombo port are experiencing delays owing to teething problems in a new Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) computer system to manage its container terminals, shipping agents said.But the SLPA has told port users that it was working to solve the problems with the terminal management system and […]
Hedge Loss
May 29, 2009 (LBO) – Lanka IOC, a unit of Indian Oil Corporation said it lost 1.6 billion rupees in the March 2009 quarter against a profit of 890.7 million last year as the firm was hit by adverse oil hedges and taxes. But oil prices collapsed in the second half of 2008 and the […]
Sri Lanka govt seeks extra funds for export support package
May 29, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s government said it plans to ask parliament for extra funds to pay for a bailout package to help exporters cope with a downturn in trade caused by recession. Cabinet spokesman media minister Anura Yapa said the cabinet this week had approved the mechanism through which exporters can get […]
Emirates adds 22 weekly flights to India
May 29, 2009 (LBO) – Emirates airline said it will add 22 weekly flights to India in an expansion encouraged by liberalization of its skies that made the sub-continent one of the world’s fastest-growing aviation markets. The Dubai-based carrier said in a statement the move will support for the Indian government’s ambitious growth plan to […]
Mobile Spin
May 29, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lankan celco Mobitel will spend 557 million rupees (4.85 million US dollars) in a four year sponsorship of the island’s cricket team, the company’s parent, Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) said. SLT said in a stock exchange filing that the deal, one of the largest announced by a Sri Lankan […]
Housing Woes
May 29, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Housing Development and Finance Corporation (HDFC) said it made a loss in the March 2009 quarter amid rising interest expenses and sharp falls in interest and fee-based income. The bank made a loss of 52 million rupees in the three months ending March 31, 2009 compared with a […]
Good Credit
May 29, 2009 (LBO) – A central bank supported credit scheme to help war-affected Sri Lankans will not use printed money, but cash from a revolving credit facility separately managed by the monetary authority, a top official said. Sri Lanka’s central bank is planning a re-finance to jump-start lending to the war-affected so that they […]
Fleet Fortunes
May 29, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka could make use of the global slump in shipping to rebuild its national merchant fleet as ships without work are now going cheap, the island’s navy chief Wasantha Karannagoda has said. The end of the 25-year-old ethnic war gives the country an opportunity to revive its merchant navy, […]
Repair Returns
May 28, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lankan ship builder Colombo Dockyard said net profit for the March 2009 quarter shot up 112 percent to 519 million rupees from 245 million rupees a year ago.A platform support vessel for the same Indian customer – the first of an order of four – is now under construction. […]
Mortgage Rating
May 28, 2009 (LBO) – Fitch Ratings Lanka has confirmed an ‘AA-(lka)’ rating assigned to a mortgage backed security issued by Sri Lanka’s HDFC Bank. Fitch said the outlook of the rating on the 82.6 million rupee HDFC Home Loan Securitisation Trust 2005 – Sri Lanka’s (HLST) was ‘stable’. The security was given a Loss […]
Fee Hit
May 28, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Citibank unit’s March 2009 quarter profits were down 41.7 percent to 230.6 million rupees on sharply lower fee income, though the net interest margins were up, published accounts showed. Interest income was up 14.5 percent to 756.8 million rupees, while interest expense was down 12.1 percent to 208.0 […]
Lease Focus
May 28, 2009 (LBO) – Ceylinco Finance, a listed firm in the Ceylinco group, says it is re-structuring itself under the guidance of a veteran banker to focus on leasing, and is planning to ask for a finance company license. N B S B Balalle, a former chief executive of state-run National Savings Bank, has […]