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Sri Lanka Taj unit in losses amid refurbishment
Feb 13, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Taj Lanka Hotels Plc, a unit of India’s Taj Hotels and Resorts said it lost 118 million rupees in the December 2013 quarter as the hotel went through a refurbishment.Revenues were down 34 percent to 355 million rupees, cost of sales fell 2 percent to 388 million rupees […]
Retail Trend
Feb 13, 2014 (LBO) – Profits at Sri Lanka’s Odel Plc, a fashion retailer fell 40 percent to 46.0 million rupees in the December 2013 quarter from a year earlier, amid weaker sales and narrower margins, interim accounts showed.The firm reported earnings of 17 cents per share for the quarter. In the nine months to […]
Sri Lanka stocks close 0.4-pct down
Feb 12, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka stocks close down Wednesday with tobacco and finance stocks losing ground, brokers said. The Colombo benchmark All Share Price Index closed 28.67 points lower at 6,084.48, down 0.47 percent. The S&P SL20 closed 12.39 points lower at 3,336.96, down 0.37 percent. Turnover was 548.63 million rupees, down from […]
Upgraded
Feb 12, 2014 (LBO) – RAM Ratings Lanka said it had upgraded a ‘BB-‘ rating of BRAC Lanka Finance Plc (formerly Nanda Investments, by two levels to ‘BB+’ following an ownership change. l The rating has a stable outlook. Bangladesh-based BRAC bought into the firm and RAM said support was expected from the parent. The […]
Boat People
COLOMBO, February 12, 2014 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s police arrested 75 would-be asylum seekers on Wednesday, including nine women and six children, who were trying to leave for New Zealand illegally by boat, police said.The group was arrested in the southern coastal town of Moragolla, the first large-scale arrest of nationals in months after Australia, […]
Sri Lanka ends 2013 with US$7.2bn in foreign reserves
Feb 12, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s foreign reserves rose 4.6 percent to 7,200 million in December 2013 from a year earlier, despite payments to the International Monetary Fund and losses on gold holdings, official data showed. But in pegged exchange rate monetary systems ‘reserves’ are invested abroad such as in liquid US Treasuries and […]
Sri Lanka Treasuries yields mixed
Jan 11, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s short term Treasuries yields fell at Tuesday’s auction from two weeks ago, but the 12-month yield was steady from a week earlier, data from the state debt office showed.The debt office offered 12.0 billion rupees of bills for auction and accepted 20.8 billion in bids. Last week bids […]
Sri Lanka gilt dealer begins trading listed debt
Feb 11, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s first gilt dealer has begun trading listed corporate debt in the Colombo Stock Exchange kicking off a process that could improve liquidity and secondary trading, officials said.Capital Alliance Ltd (CAL), a primary dealer in government securities became the first firm to trade as a dealer-broker Tuesday, under new […]
Sri Lanka stocks close higher
Feb 11, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka stocks end slightly higher Tuesday with tobacco stocks gaining amid strong foreign selling, brokers said. The Colombo benchmark All Share Price Index closed 2.88 points higher at 6,113.15, up 0.05 percent. The S&P SL20 closed 5.08 points lower at 3,349.35, down 0.15 percent. Turnover was 1.98 billion rupees, […]
Consolidation View
Feb 11, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s plan to consolidate banks, could bring long term benefits and greater system stability, Fitch Ratings said.The consolidation master plan envisaged the creation of bigger banks, with an asset base of over 1,000 million rupees. “Only one bank met this threshold at end-September 2013,” Fitch Ratings said. “The government […]
Tribute
AFP.com/Correspondent) Mel Gunasekera became AFP’s first full-time woman correspondent in Colombo when she joined in January 2007. She had covered Sri Lanka’s Tamil separatist war and its bloody finale in 2009 and was widely respected across the country.On February 2, she was murdered at her Colombo home after confronting a burglar.By Amal Jayasinghe When a […]
AirAsia X drops Maldives, continues Sri Lanka flights
Jan 11, 2014 (LBO) – Malaysia-based AirAsia X, a long haul budget carrier said it will stop flying to Maldives from next month, but will continue flights to Sri Lanka four times a week.AirAsia X said it was halting Male flights due to “challenging business conditions”. “The decision to withdraw from Male was a difficult […]