Red Ink

Feb 17, 2012 (LBO) - Sri Lanka's The Finance Company slipped back into the red in the December quarter having broken even the previous quarter although losses were much less than a year ago. The troubled finance firm, which was re-structured under regulatory guidance, made a December 2011 quarter loss of 17.5 million rupees compared with a 440 million rupee loss the year before, a stock exchange filing said.

Interest income fell 13 percent to 509 million rupees, while interest expenses fell 14 percent to 638 million rupees, resulting in net interest expenses falling 19 percent to 129 million rupees

Other operating income shot up to 320 million rupees from 33 million rupees.

The Finance's loss per share was 11 cents for the December 2011 quarter.

Earnings per share for the nine months ending December 2011 were 10 cents with the firm making a net profit of 16 million rupees against a loss of 1.6 billion rupees the previous year.

The Finance said it broke even in the September 2011 quarter, recovering from a steep loss a year earlier, helped by provision reversals and lower interest expenses.