Asset Backed

May 27, 2009 (LBO) – Fitch Ratings Lanka said it has confirmed People’s Leasing Co.Ltd. Trust 32’s (PLC32) 119.7 million rupee lease-backed trust certificates (LBTCs) at ‘A-(lka)’ with a stable outlook.A Loss Severity rating of ‘LS-3’ has been assigned, it said in a statement. “The affirmation is based on the uninterrupted payouts made to LBTC […]

Rescue Mission

May 27, 2009 (LBO) – The Finance Company can be turned around within six months, according to Merchant Bank of Sri Lanka (MBSL) which has been appointed by the banking regulator to manage the troubled finance firm. “The only way to move forward The Finance is engage in day-to-day activities.If not, we can’t meet the […]

Sri Lanka Ceylinco Insurance March profit down 29-pct

May 26, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Ceylinco Insurance Company said March 2009 net profit fell 29 percent to 101 million rupees from a year ago as claims went up, despite a sharp increase in investment income. The firm is part of the Ceylinco group which was thrown into a crisis when an unlisted subsidiary, […]

Mobile Growth

May 26, 2009 (LBO) – Mobitel, a unit of Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT), has increased subscribers by 73 percent to 2.8 million in the year to March 2009, while revenues climbed 48 percent to 3.6 billion rupees in the first quarter, the group said. In the year to March 2009, Millicom International Cellular said its […]

Bank Trade

May 26, 2009 (LBO) – Profits of HSBC’s Sri Lanka unit grew 40 percent to 628.1 million rupees in the March 2009 quarter on strong foreign exchange income, despite rising interest expenses, its published accounts showed. The bank’s gross assets from December to March had grown by 8.2 percent to 161,544.4 million rupees, while net […]

Tight Quarter

May 26, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Commercial Bank said group profits fell 12.9 percent to 892 million rupees in the March 2009 quarter, as its loan book shrank and the firm also changed the way it accounted for a troubled oil derivative sale. “In the future provisions will be provided after making an assessment […]

Lube Luck

May 25, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Chevron unit said net profit for the March 2009 quarter fell 33 percent to 233 million rupees from a year ago with sales virtually stagnant in a slowing economy.Chevron Lubricants Lanka said in a stock exchange filing that sales for the three months ended March 31, 2009 were […]

Extravagant IPL changes world landscape

JOHANNESBURG, May 25, 2009 (AFP) – Commissioner Lalit Modi claimed after Sunday’s final that the Indian Premier League had become a global phenomenon.The claim might have been a touch extravagant, but there could be no doubt that the second version of cricket’s richest tournament, moved at short notice from India to South Africa, contributed to […]

Sri Lanka gets more Emirates flights

May 25, 2009 (LBO) – Emirates said it will increase flights to the Sri Lankan capital Colombo by resuming services via Male from July 1 with the launch of three additional flights a week between Dubai and Colombo.From July 1, 2009, Emirates flight EK 654 will depart Dubai at 1020 hours local time and arrive […]

Thin Margins

May 25, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka Telecom group said profits fell 42 percent to 974 million rupees in the March 2009 quarter with fixed access revenues falling while the mobile sector showed growth. Chairperson Leisha De Silva Chandresena said the firm’s performance came amid adverse economic conditions worldwide. The firm said broadband and data […]

Tele Merger

May 25, 2009 (LBO) – India’s Bharti Airtel said it was talking with MTN group, a firm operating in Africa and the Middle East, to buy 49 percent of its in return for a 36 percent stake in the Indian firm. Bharti Airtel has a unit in Sri Lanka. The Bharti shares would be split […]

Safe Harbour

May 25, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is to lobby Lloyd’s of London to remove a war risk tag on the country which kept insurance premiums high, following defeat of Tamil Tigers by the military last week, a media report said. The Island newspaper said Sri Lanka is classified as a ‘region of war’ by […]

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