US promotes Sri Lanka investment

Aug 14, 2009 (LBO) – The United States is holding a conference in Colombo in October, with participation of Sri Lankan officials for US firms to explore investment opportunities following the end of a 30-year war in the country. “This private-public conference will provide U.S. firms a unique opportunity to be among the first investors […]

Sri Lanka to issue US$500mn sovereign bond in Sept-Oct: report

Aug 13, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka will issue a 500 million US dollar 5-year sovereign bond in late September or early October to international investors, a media report said.“Minimum benchmark size in the international capital market is $500 million,” Reuters news agency quoted C.J.P. Siriwardena, head of Sri Lanka’s government debt office as saying. […]

Sri Lankan stocks close flat as buyers take stock of earnings

Aug 13, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lankan shares closed flat on Thursday as retail investors recovered from a spate of weak earnings the June quarter, while plantation stocks that had exposure to tea picked up in price, brokers said. The benchmark Colombo All Share Price Index (ASPI) closed up 0.08 percent (1.95 points) to end […]

Promotions

Aug 13, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Central Bank said it has promoted six officers as Assistant Governor with effect from August 10, 2009. The officers are W M Karunaratne, P Liyanage , J P Mampitiya, C K Nanayakkara, B D W A Silva and P N Weerasinghe. “These promotions have been made in line […]

Bank Numbers

Aug 13, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Commercial Bank said group profits rose 2.7 percent to 1,122.1 million rupees in the June 2009 quarter from a year earlier, while revenues rose 2.0 percent to 11.0 billion. Interest income fell 1.3 percent to 8.96 billion, interest expenses rose 1.8 percent to 6.12 billion rupees, causing interest […]

Migrant Impact

Aug 13, 2009 (LBO) – Migrants are left out of current stimulus packages and HIV/AIDS programmes are under threat, according to a new United Nations study.The paper, released at the ninth International Congress on AIDS in Asia and Pacific in Bali this week, said the adverse impact of the financial crisis on health and migration […]

Write Down

Aug 13, 2009 (LBO) – Dialog Telekom, a unit of Malaysia’s Axiata and the island’s top celco said it lost 7.6 billion rupees in the June 2009 quarter on a 6.0 billion rupee one-off write-down of older network equipment. Dialog Broadbband, a fixed and broadband unit had shown revenues of 556 million rupees.Group revenues fell […]

Stiff Competition

Aug 13, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Hutchison Telecom International unit lost subscribers in the June 2009 quarter, but the firm is continuing network expansion that will see 65 percent population coverage by the end of the year, the company said. Hutchison said subscriber dropped to 536,000 by end June from 772,000 in March. In […]

Sri Lanka, Maldives trade shifting to services: envoy

Aug 13, 2009 (LBO) – The Maldives is introducing laws to attract foreign investors such as those from Sri Lanka with whom the archipelago’s trade is growing and shifting towards services, the Maldivian envoy to Colombo said. High commissioner Ali Hassen Didi said the two countries have had close trade links for decades and shared […]

Sri Lanka Treasury bill yields bottom out

Aug 12, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka 3-month Treasury bill yields showed signs of bottoming out at Wednesday’s auction with 6 and 12 month yields up marginally, despite the government’s debt office not accepting the entire offered volume from the market. Since a float of the currency ended a balance of payments crisis in March […]

Sri Lankan blue chip shares fall on weak earnings

Aug 12, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lankan stocks closed down Wednesday, dragged lower by index heavy blue chips as retailers, worried about weak June quarter earnings, sold out to cut losses, brokers said. The benchmark Colombo All Share Price Index (ASPI) closed down 0.72 percent (18.07 points) to end at 2,506.85, while the Milanka index […]

Atoll Attraction

Aug 12, 2009 (LBO) – An international boat show to be held in the Maldive islands offers opportunities for Sri Lankan boat builders to cater to the archipelago’s transport requirements, officials said.Maldivian high commissioner Ali Hassen Didi said the water transport requirements of the country with 1,190 islands, almost 200 of them inhabited, were growing. […]

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