Category: Industry
ECB to review investor strategy after Stanford fiasco
LONDON, March 13, 2009 (AFP) – The England and Wales Cricket Board are to review the manner in which they assess potential investors following the collapse of their deal with controversial financier Allen Stanford.The ECB came in for heavy criticism after Stanford was implicated by the US Securities and Exchange Commission in a multi-billion dollar […]
Sri Lanka HNB Assurance profit up
March 13, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s HNB Assurance said after tax profit rose 33 percent to 164.5 million rupees in 2008 from a year ago in what was a difficult period for business, helped by investment income from government bonds.Premium rates continued to fall in General Insurance, eroding margins to an unacceptable level, managing […]
Tech Ideas
March 13, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s software industry has teamed up with the British Council to promote technology entrepreneurship among university students. The “Graduate Enterprise Challenge 09” is a contest aimed at grooming the next generation of ‘technology entrepreneurs’, the British Council and Sri Lanka Association of Software and Service Companies (SLASSCOM) said in […]
Bucket Pricing
Mar 13, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lankan fixed access telco, Lanka Bell has started two packages with batches of free outgoing minutes, intensifying competition in the fixed telephony sector, with market oriented pricing strategies, officials said. It has started a 1,000-minutes-free package for 999 rupees branded ‘Infinity Plus’, where the customer can call any time […]
Overseas Outlook
Mar 13, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Hatton National Bank (HNB) said it is going ahead with overseas expansion in South Asia and the Middle East despite a global economic crunch and political turmoil. HNB had gone into Oman to push remittances through Majan Exchange LLC, which is 40 percent owned by the bank. “We […]
Supply Chain
March 13, 2009 (LBO) – Global logistics firm DHL said it will invest eight million dollars in Sri Lanka to set up a joint venture for supply chain services, including those tailored for the island’s apparel export industry.The investment of just over 800 million rupees in three years will go towards the joint venture, employee […]
Sri Lanka LNG power project investor pulls out
March 12, 2009 (LBO) – An Australian consultancy that won tax concessions to develop a liquefied natural gas (LNG) fired power plant for Sri Lanka’s state-run electricity grid has announced it was pulling out of the project. “As a result, Arc has unequivocally withdrawn from the project in its present format, and has absolutely no […]
Battered Pakistan tourism industry looks to Sri Lanka example
KARACHI, March 12, 2009 (AFP) – Fida Hussain, 52, was once a frequent visitor to Pakistan’s scenic northwest, driving north into the mountains every time he flew over from the United States.But not any more. “I won’t go to Swat or any other place in the area as the Taliban rule there now and no […]
Sri Lanka tourist arrivals fall 15.7-pct in February 2009
Mar 12, 2009 (LBO) – Tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka fell 15.7 percent in February to 34,169 with the first two months of 2009 showing a 25.5 percent fall, and visitors from India halving, the country’s tourism promotion office said. East Asian arrivals dropped 28.4 percent to 3,153. Japan dropped 8.3 percent to 867 and […]
Good Year
Mar12, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Sampath Bank group has posted a profit of 1.49 billion rupees for the 2008 financial year, up 30 percent from 2007, in what its senior management called a tough year to operate in. During 2008 Sampath’s interest income had jumped by 30.1 percent to 19.4 billion, while interest expenses […]
Payment Plan
Mar 12, (LBO) – Prosecutors, customers and officials of Sri Lanka’s failed Golden Key Credit Card Company of the Ceylinco group are to discuss a trust arrangement to sell assets to generate cash, after court ordered a halt to assets sales of the company and subsidiaries. Bail He wanted Kotelawala to be released on bail […]
Late Justice
ROME, March 11, 2009 (AFP) – An appeals court in southern Italy sentenced a Pakistani shipowner to 30 years in prison for his role in the drowning deaths of 283 illegal immigrants more than a decade ago, ANSA reported Wednesday.Maltese resident Ahmed Sheik Turab, 48, was considered the organiser of a 1996 sea journey of […]