Category: Industry
Tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka slip 15 percent in August
Oct 05, 2007 (LBO) – Foreign visitors to Sri Lanka slipped 15.5 percent in August while total number of arrivals from January to August this year decreased 22.6 percent, the islands tourist promotion office said. Compared to last August, the arrivals slumped to 44,742 while total arrivals from January to August were down to 313,675 […]
Sri Lanka leisure firm in Maldives shrugs off blast fallout
Oct 05, 2007 (LBO) – John Keells Holdings (JKH), Sri Lanka’s top leisure group which is buying up a rival chain in the island, says its Maldives units are not affected by a recent bombing and is going ahead with re-branding its atoll resorts. The group’s leisure division has just concluded a deal offering to […]
Capital Boost
Oct 05, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state-owned Peoples’ Bank (PB) is on track to get a credit upgrade if its capital is boosted to regulatory requirements, Fitch Ratings Lanka has said after confirming the bank’s A- (lka) rating. The bank was in line to get a billion rupee capital injection from the state in […]
Box Profits
Oct 05, 2007 (LBO) – John Keells Holdings’ (JKH) associate South Asia Gateway Terminals (SAGT) has reported record container volume growth in its Colombo port terminal but the facility is nearing capacity, port officials and analysts said. “SAGT will continue to be a cash generating operation but if JKH wants to be a growth story […]
Nine killed in fresh Sri Lanka clashes
Oct 4, 2007 (AFP) – At least six Tamil Tiger rebels and three government soldiers were killed in fresh skirmishes in northern Sri Lanka, the defence ministry said Thursday. Fighting erupted at four locations along a de facto border separating the rebel-held territory in the Wanni region Wednesday, the ministry said in a statement. It […]
England 234-8 against Sri Lanka
DAMBULLA, Sri Lanka, Oct 4, 2007 (AFP) – Owais Shah hit a solid half-century under pressure to help England reach a respectable 234-8 against Sri Lanka in the second one-day international here on Thursday.Shah, Collingwood and Swann then batted sensibly to help their team cross the 200-mark. England were struggling at 61-4 after winning the […]
Flying High
Oct 04, 2007 (LBO) – The boom in civil aviation especially in the Asian region is opening up vast opportunities for professionals, especially in engineering, in Sri Lanka, a senior airline official said. Eardley Abayaratna, manager, technical services of the engineering arm of the national carrier Sri Lankan Airlines, said the rapid rate at which […]
Sri Lanka John Keells in deal to buy three Confifi hotels
Oct 04, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s John Keells Holdings announced a take-over of three Confifi group hotels Thursday, paying for the deal with the stock of its leisure division. Meanwhile in the broader market, the All Share index closed up 0.45 percent at 2,589.7 points and the more liquid Milanka Index 0.31 percent at […]
Female Flyers
Oct 03, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka may boast of having had the world’s first woman prime minister and her daughter as the island’s first female president, but few women have made a career in aviation. The country’s first female military pilot flew Spitfires in World War 2 but an attempt by a young woman […]
Sri Lanka wants Atapattu back for Australia
Oct 3, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s former captain and opening batsman Marvan Atapattu is set to make a comeback after being overlooked for the World Cup, chief selector Asantha de Mel told AFP here Wednesday.“We want Sanath only in the one-day team,” he said. “We need his experience in Australia. He has the technique […]
Sri Lankan Airlines push weekly Indian flights to 99
Oct 03, 2007 (LBO) – SriLankan Airlines announced Wednesday it will launch services to Coimbatore on October 29, pushing weekly flights to India to 99. The airline is now flying 95 frequencies a week to 11 destinations in India. “SriLankan Airlines has positioned Colombo as the gateway to India, and we are continuously increasing our […]
Hutch Million
Oct 03, 2007 (LBO) – The Sri Lanka unit of Hutchison Telecom has passed one million users and the firm is planning to the double the size of its network over the next year, the company said. The firm which has carved a growing niche in giving affordable services largely through pre-paid services. œWe believe […]