Category: Industry
Sri Lankan Airlines in green flight
Mar 21, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lankan Airlines, the national carrier of the Indian Ocean island had its first ‘green flight’ Saturday using recyclable consumables on board and flying practices that minimize fuel burn.The airline says it ‘green flight’ to Frankfurt was the first in the region and it wants to make ‘planet friendly flights’ […]
Group Rating
Mar 20, 2009 (LBO) – Fitch Ratings has confirmed the ‘AAA(lka)’ rating of Sri Lanka’s John Keells Holdings (JKH) with a ‘stable’ outlook.The ‘AAA(lka)’ rating of the group’s senior notes were also confirmed “JKH’s rating reflects the diversified nature of its businesses, the currently strong financial profile driven in part by its high cash position, […]
No Scrapping
March 20, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has ruled out ship breaking as an industry under its efforts to promote the island as a maritime hub, going against the trend in the region, according to a new national port and shipping policy.Developed countries have had to face pressure from the public as well as environmental […]
Rating Cut
Mar 20, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s The Finance Company (TFC) has lost its investment grade rating with a two notch downgrade to ‘BB+(lka)’ from ‘BBB(lka)’ with the rating placed on negative watch, Fitch Ratings said. A negative watch indicates that TFC’s rating could be downgraded further or affirmed. The downgrade reflects the liquidity stresses […]
Cash Management
Mar 20, 2009 (LBO) – Balance sheets of Sri Lanka’s non bank financial firms have shrunk over 10 percent in two months as jittery savers took cash out, but the sector as a whole is still rolling over most of their deposits, officials said. “Our experience has been that 90 percent of deposits will be […]
Sri Lanka Allianz unit pre-tax profit up
March 19, 2009 (LBO) – The Sri Lanka unit of Allianz Insurance, a German insurer, said net profit before tax rose 63 percent to 86 million rupees in 2008 from 53 million rupees in 2007.Allianz Lanka said in a statement its pure Underwriting Profit comprises more than 47 percent of the total profit component. The […]
Sri Lankan hotels told of financial gains of cleaner production
March 19, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lankan hotels stand to make financial gains by adopting cleaner production methods if done in a systematic manner, the head of the hotel trade body has said. Srilal Miththapala, president of the Tourist Hotels Association of Sri Lanka, said many hotels have embarked on some form of energy conservation […]
Sri Lanka Jan 2009 exports, imports fall sharply
March 18, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s trade deficit contracted by 66.5 percent in January 2009 from a year ago to 208 million US dollars as exports and imports fell sharply, the central bank said.Private remittances also fell, largely owing to the strength of the dollar, it said, but exports of apparel, a key industry, […]
State Support
Mar 17, 2009 (LBO) – A Sri Lankan state-run bank that has lent money to a controversial state airline will get a 400 million rupee injection from the Treasury which will strengthen its balance sheet, an official said. In 1993 the government injected 24.088 billion rupees into two state banks and in 1996 another 23.873 […]
Managed Finance
Mar 16, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s The Finance Company, a member of the troubled Ceylinco group, will be run by a former senior state bank executive who has been appointed as ‘managing agent’, officials said. Central Bank Governor Nivard Cabraal said Guy de Silva, a former deputy general manager of state-run Bank of Ceylon, […]
Default Window
Mar 16, 2009 (LBO) – Defaulters in Sri Lanka whose leased assets have been seized by financial institutions will be given a one month window to pay a quarter of their outstanding debt and get back assets without penalties, officials said.When the Central Bank presented to the cabinet of ministers a bailout package to stabilize […]
Sri Lanka senior players want better security
March 15, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s new cricket captain Kumar Sangakkara and star spinner Muttiah Muralitharan say they want security guarantees on future tours after their team survived an attack in Pakistan.The Sri Lankan team bus was ambushed by armed militants in Lahore on March 3 as it drove towards the Gaddafi stadium during […]