Expolanka gears up for growth as Q1 revenue hits 25% YoY

• Revenue up 25% YoY to Rs. 19.8 billion
• PAT expands by 11% YoY to Rs. 282 million 
• Refined global procurement strategies generate improved gross profit margins

Commencing the new financial year with strong top and bottom line performances, Expolanka Holdings Plc announced impressive first quarter results aligned with its ambitious plan to further accelerate the company’s growth momentum in the future.

Primarily fuelled by its global logistics business, group turnover expanded by 25% Year-on-Year (YoY) up to Rs. 19.8 billion while a continuous focus on streamlining global procurement functions enabled further stabilisation in gross profits which expanded by 46% YoY up to Rs. 3.9 billion during the period under review.

This continuous consolidation of Expolanka’s core business culminated in improvements to the group’s bottom line, which posted Profit After Tax of Rs. 282 million in 1Q19, reflecting an annual growth rate of 11%. 

“While we are extremely satisfied at the remarkable momentum that Expolanka has carried into the new financial year, we believe that these results are not just a positive signal of the concerted improvements that the company has made across all of its core businesses, but also a reflection of the consistency of our plans,” said Expolanka Group CEO Hanif Yusoof.

“Over the course of the coming financial year, we aim to continuously bolster performances while capturing and exploiting new business opportunities in order to lay the foundation for an expanded local and global presence.” 

Over the last quarter, the group’s logistics sector continued to provide the strongest contributions to top-line performance, generating a 29% YoY improvement in revenue up to Rs. 18.9 billion, supported by strong growth in its core Air Freight operations and stable growth from its Ocean Freight operations. 

Consequently, Expolanka’s logistics segment posted impressive 50% YoY improvements to Gross Profits, which expanded to Rs. 3.6 billion despite a relatively challenging and competitive market environment, where the industry was faced with capacity constraints and pricing pressure. 

Bolstered by the pursuit of pre-emptive strategies implemented in anticipation of such conditions, the company was able to consolidate its core Indian subcontinent operation whilst benefitting from strong growth in its Trans-Pacific Trade lane operations – an area of core emphasis for the business – and stable performances within its European trade lane. All of the above factors enabled the sector to record a vibrant PAT growth of 11% YoY up to Rs. 303 million.  

Commenting on the strong growth attained by its logistics business, Yusoof added that Explolanka would continue to implement policies and strategies that would enable continuous sustainable earnings growth within the sector as part of the group’s primary objective to exponentially develop and expand its logistics operations over the coming year and beyond. Similar improvements were also recorded across Expolanka’s other core businesses, namely its leisure sector. During the first quarter, PAT within the leisure sector recorded growth of 18% YoY up to Rs. 70 million, arising out of the consolidation of its corporate travel business. Standing as one of Expolanka’s most recent diversifications, leisure and inbound tour operations have generated continuous improvements since their inception, and continue to represent a promising new line of diversified revenue generation for Expolanka. 

Meanwhile, the group’s investment sector – which is mainly related to export operations - also made positive contributions towards group performance contributing Rs. 627 million towards group revenue, while its IT operations enabled the maintenance of effective cost structures carried forward from the previous financial year generating substantial strategic value for Expolanka.