Corporate earnings impressive, time to start bottom fishing?
DNH Financial Ltd. last week said that corporate earnings released so far look impressive but the bourse has not performed compared to strong earnings generation. The broking firm also suggests time is right for investors to go bottom fishing. Here are excerpts from DNH’s Weekly Report:
The Colombo bourse ended the week on a relatively quiet note with the ASPI declining by just 0.14%WoW to close at 6348 while the MPI also ended the week a tad lower at 5662 (-23% WoW).
HP ditches costly PC unit spin-off
Reuters: Hewlett-Packard Co ditched a plan to spin off its personal computers unit, a month after the ouster of CEO Leo Apotheker whose idea would have cost billions of dollars in expenses and lost business.
New Chief Executive Meg Whitman, who replaced Apotheker, had vowed a quick decision on an issue that was beginning to alienate its PC partners, investors and customers.
Whitman still has one unresolved item before her — the future of WebOS software. Apotheker put the WebOS division in jeopardy after he killed the WebOS-based TouchPad tablet following poor sales.
Japan’s factory output slid 4% in September
TOKYO: Japan’s industrial production fell more than analysts expected, an indication that the recovery from the March earthquake may be stalling due to a yen at a postwar high and a global slowdown.
Factory output slid 4% in September from the previous month, the trade ministry said in a report in Tokyo, the first decline since the disaster. That was lower than all 28 forecasts of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News, who were predicting a median drop of 2.1%.
Boeing delays delivery of 747-8 Intercontinental
Reuters: Boeing Co has pushed back the first delivery of the passenger version of its new 747-8 to the first quarter of 2012 from the fourth quarter of this year.
“First delivery is now scheduled for first quarter 2012 due to a delay in flight testing and the time required to incorporate all flight test driven changes,” Boeing said in a regulatory filing last week along with its third-quarter earnings results.
State of SL economy according to IPS: Grow but make it inclusive
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The Institute of Policy Studies or IPS has once again issued its annual assessment of the Sri Lanka’s economy in 2011 six months before the Central Bank of Sri Lanka would do so in March next year.
Though the report contains a fair, constructive and elaborative assessment of the state of the economy, no adequate discussion has been made of the report in the mainstream business media and it appears that it has largely been ignored.
IPS mission: Give an independent view on policy
Commonwealth defends relevance, faces human rights finger pointing
PERTH, Australia (Reuters): Commonwealth leaders on Sunday defended their moves to toughen support for human rights, rejecting criticism the group was becoming irrelevant and had failed at their three-day summit to hold member Sri Lanka accountable for alleged abuses.
But several leaders of the 54 mostly former British colonies, meeting in the remote Australian city of Perth, supported less than half recommended reforms put forward by an eminent persons group.
CDB ups 1H after tax profit by 141% to Rs. 241 m
Citizens Development Business Finance PLC (CDB) is continuing its strong performance during the first half of FY 2011/12, reflecting robust performance in all aspects of business.
According to the results released to the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE), net profit-after-tax for the period under review has recorded a figure of Rs. 241 million, reflecting a growth of 141% compared to the corresponding period in the previous year.
The bottom line growth has been a result of the 31% growth of the balance sheet to Rs. 13.38 billion from the last audited balance sheet date of 31 March 2011. This expansion in balance sheet has been driven by a similar growth in loan book to Rs. 10.31 billion. The deposit base too grew by 26% to Rs. 9.4 billion.
Today’s Front Page 31-10-2011
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Use legal means to stamp out drugs
As if Sri Lanka needs more confirmation of the drug menace within its capital city, weekend newspaper reports gave a snapshot of how serious the problem really is and how little effective action has been taken to stamp it out.
An estimated 350 heroin dealers are operating in the city of Colombo, with about 45 of them dealing in wholesale transactions involving millions of rupees, according to National Dangerous Drug Control Board (NDDCB) detectives.
Gillard double-crossed over Games bid
AAP: Sri Lanka’s President has double-crossed Prime Minister Julia Gillard over duelling bids for the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
Gillard on Saturday hosted senior officials from across the Commonwealth for a sports breakfast in Perth, on the sidelines of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM).
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