Thursday, 12 February 2015 02:31
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Leading conglomerate Aitken Spence PLC recorded a challenging third quarter but showed a steady performance for the nine months, revealed its interim results to the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) released on Wednesday.
The blue-chip’s financial results for the nine months ended 31 December 2014 saw profit-before-tax increasing by 4.4% to Rs. 3.8 b while profit attributable to shareholders decreased by 4.8% to Rs. 2.2 b.
Aitken...
The diversified group’s third quarter results showed profit-before-tax decreasing by 5.9% to Rs. 1.6 b and profit attributable to shareholders falling by 19.5% to Rs. 870 m, “Although we had a challenging third quarter, we were able to record a steady performance for the year so far,” said Aitken Spence PLC Deputy Chairman and Managing Director J.M.S. Brito.
“With the new administration in Sri Lanka, we see a significant boost to business confidence. We are confident that the 100-day plan which has received bi-partisan support will strengthen good governance, which augers well for much needed healthy foreign investment to the country,” Brito added.
Profit before tax from the tourism sector was up by 3.5% to Rs. 2.5 b while revenue rose by 7.2% to Rs. 12.4 b, for the nine months. Aitken Spence operates a wide portfolio of hotels and resorts in Sri Lanka, Maldives, India and Oman. Its travel arm, the largest in Sri Lanka, is a joint venture with TUI Travel. It also acts as GSA for major airlines in Sri Lanka and the Maldives.
The Group’s Hotels arm is currently overseeing two large hotel projects in Negombo and Ahungalla.
The Maritime and Logistics sector recorded Rs. 525 m as profits-before-tax, a decrease of 2.8% over the previous year, while revenue was up by8.5% to Rs. 5.2 b. Aitken Spence is Sri Lanka’s largest integrated logistics services provider and has port management services in Africa and the South Pacific. Port operations in Fiji contributed significantly to the sector profits with the company achieving high efficiency levels in the ports of Suva and Lautoka.
Strategic investments sector showed a rise of 32.7% in profits-before-tax and 10.1% in revenue, to Rs. 695 m and Rs. 10.6 b respectively, for the period under review. Power, printing and garments businesses performed better than last year during the nine months, with investments in new machinery and expansion of manufacturing facilities.
The Group’s services sector saw profits-before-tax falling by 42.4% to Rs. 104 m and revenue rising by 14.4% to Rs. 607 m. The services sector includes financial services, insurance, elevator agency and technology businesses. The fairly nascent technology business accounted for a significant share of the losses in the services sector.
