Commercial Credit returns to profit in style; to list on CSE

Commercial Credit Ltd. (CCL) has returned to profitability in a robust way in 2010 whilst it plans to list on the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) shortly by way of an introduction.

From a loss in 2009, CCL has posted a Rs. 350 million profit in 2010 which is an unprecedented growth according to CEO Roshan Egodage.The Interest Income and Interest Expenditure Gap – the core income of a finance company – grew a staggering 980% from Rs. 10 million to Rs. 98 million per month from 2009 to 2010, while the Cost to Income Ratio fell from 85% to 40%, well below the industry average of 83%.  Meanwhile monthly collections recorded an 800% increase from Rs. 60 million in 2009 to 480 million at the end of March 2011, while the Gross NPL ratio fell from 12% to 2%.  Asset base amounted to Rs. 5.4 billion.  The company Chairperson of which is Vagdevi Fernando, had a change in management in late 2009 marking a new chapter. Recently it opened the 19th branch in Badulla.

Egodage also said CCL will list on the Colombo Stock Exchange in June 2011 to keep in line with the requirement of its regulator, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. The CSE on Tuesday said it has approved in principle an application by CCL to list 218 million ordinary shares on the Diri Savi Board by way of an introduction.

Recently Chillaw Finance announced a similar move.