Category: Industry
Tele Trends
May 26, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka Telecom, the island’s top fixed line-operator, March quarter group net profit fell 16 percent to 1,663 million rupees from a year ago as a tariff cut and rising costs took their toll.Sri Lanka Telecom’s full-year group profits for 2007 were up four percent at 5.6 billion rupees. According […]
Bus Fares
May 25, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s bus fares will go up by an average 27.2 percent from Monday following a 37 percent rise in diesel prices on Saturday, an official said. The island has a formula under a national pricing policy agreed with bus operators and the government. The fares were finalized following discussions […]
Steep Rise
May 24, 2008 (LBO) – After dragging their feet for months Sri Lanka’s state-run Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) jacked up diesel prices by an unprecedented 37 percent and petrol by 23 percent, while a unit of Indian Oil Corporation said it would follow suit. An International Monetary Fund study said this week that commodity markets […]
Leasing Rating
May 24, 2008 (LBO) – Fitch Sri Lanka has confirmed a ‘BBB-(lka)’ rating of Ceylease Financial Services (CFSL), a unit of state-run Bank of Ceylon, with a ‘stable’ outlook but said interest costs and bad loans were rising. Fitch says the comparatively high net NPL to equity ratios are partly due to the company’s relatively […]
Direct Credit
May 23, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s People’s Leasing is getting 10 million US dollars from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) which it can start lending within the next 30 days, a top official said. People’s Leasing inked a deal Friday with the ADB to lend to the small and medium enterprises in the island. […]
” threat to Beijing Olympics: IAEA
VIENNA, May 23, 2008 (AFP) – The UN atomic watchdog said Friday that it had seen no concrete intelligence regarding a possible dirty bomb threat to this summer’s Olympic games in Beijing.Talking to journalists, Anita Nilsson, head of nuclear security at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), was asked is she could confirm that the […]
‘s BP Solar
May 23, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has awarded a contract for rural solar electrification to Australia’s BP Solar, a senior government minister said. The local government ministry said in a note to cabinet that the contract to BP Solar (Pty) Ltd of Sydney was recommended by a cabinet appointed negotiation committee. The scheme will […]
Sri Lanka to apply for EU GSP+; industry warned not to depend on concessions
May 23, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s government said it was pressing ahead with applying for trade concessions from the European Union in October but warned industrialists not to depend on trade concessions. Rajapaksa warned last month that if the trade concessions are lost the private sector should improve productivity and “face the challenge.” Industry […]
Mobile Numbers
May 23, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lankan mobile operator Dialog Telekom said its first quarter net profits fell by more than half after it cut prices owing to growing competition and rising costs took their toll. Despite Dialog TV revenues growing by 187 percent over the same 2007 quarter, it made loss of 114 million […]
Match Making
May 23, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lankan Information Communication Technology (ICT) companies plan to take part in a business forum in the United Kingdom to promote joint product development, marketing and sales, its organizers said in a statement. Supported by UK Trade and Investment (UKTI), the match-making mission aims to link Sri Lankan companies with […]
e-Winner
May 23, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s digital self learning initiative, ‘Shilpa Sayura’, emerged winners in the education category of the Stockholm Challenge 2008 in in Sweden, the state ICT Agency (ICTA) said. The Stockholm Challenge awards were started in 1994 and is now owned by the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm. The […]
Sri Lanka tourist trade lures Arab travelers
May 23, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s April tourist arrivals dropped ten percent to 29,747 compared to the same period last year, despite a surge in visitors from the Middle East, a market where the island is being promoted in a new campaign, the Tourist Board said. The highest drop in arrivals of twenty five […]