Business
Extraordinary impairment charges drive Ceylon Tea Brokers into the red
Company however able to declare a modest dividend
Ceylon Tea Brokers PLC, listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange as the first standalone tea broking company in 2010, has reported a negative bottom line in the year ended Mar. 31, 2020, despite posting an overall performance its chairman, Mr. CPR Perera, saw as encouraging in the face of lower production and declining tea prices.
The loss was the result of an extraordinary impairment charge of Rs. 119.85 million (Rs. 21.45 million the previous year), on account providing for loans and advances to tea suppliers in accordance with SLFRS standards. This has been charged to the company’s marketing expenses of Rs. 133.3 million.
“This had a significant impact on the company’s bottom line (down to a loss of Rs. 62.5 million from a profit of Rs. 21.54 million the previous year) resulting in a much lower PAT compared to 2018/19,” Perera said.
However, the company’s tea business had posted a profit of Rs. 21.5 million during the year, down from Rs. 115.3 million a year. Despite the negative bottom line, the directors have proposed a modest dividend of eight cents per share against the previous years 35 cents per share involving a payout of Rs. 14.5 million absorbing 67.75 of the distributable profit.
Perera reported that they had done well to post a 18% increase in the volume of tea it handled in the year under review although the value of the tea marketed had shown only a marginal increase on account of the decline in tea prices during the year.
Ceylon Tea Brokers’ fully owned subsidiary, Logicare (Pvt) Ltd. had commence operations during the year. This company operates state-of-the-art warehousing complex providing over 12,000 pallet locations. It primary caters to the warehousing requirements of the parent’s producer clients adding value at both ends of the supplier chain.
“With state-of-the-art infrastructure, modern equipment, cutting edge technology and a team of expert, Logicare is equipped as one of the best one-stop logistic service providers with a strong ability to serve various industry verticals,” Perera said.
“During the year under review Logicare partnered with some of the leading companies in Sri Lanka as well as Multi-national corporations as their strategic 3PL (third party logistics) service provider covering various industry verticals such as FMCG (fast moving consumer goods), apparel, stationary, telecommunications and e-commerce.”
He was confident that this company, in the context of the growing demand for 3PL services globally, would significantly contribute to group revenue and profitability in the future.
The company’s CEO/Director Waruna de Silva explained that the impairment charges arose from some tea producers scaling down operations of account of lower production and operations but on a positive note, a few factories that have closed down had re-opened.
Ceylon Tea Brokers origins go back to 2005 when the Captal Alliance Group acquire the long established produce broking firm of De Silva, Peiris and Abeywardena subsequently listing it on the CSE.
The company’s major shareholders are Ashthi Holdings (Private) Ltd. (30.39%), Mr. WAT Fernando (26.78%), Jetwing Travels ( 18.68%), Ms. Shiromal Cooray (5.98%), Associated Electrical Corporation (2.96%), and Mr. CPR Perera/Mrs. D. Perera (1.92%)
The directors of the company are: Messrs. CPR Perera (Chairman), RJN de Mel (Deputy Chairman), WAT Fernando (MD), DGW de Silva (CEO), KHS Deshapriya (COO),Ms. Shiromal Cooray,, HMS Perera, BRL Fernando, DH Madawala, KAD Fernando, HTD Nonia and Z Mohamed.
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SLT-Mobitel, the nation’s ICT and Telecommunications Service Provider recently partnered with Spotify, to mark their launch in Sri Lanka. Spotify is a paid premium music streaming app which allows subscribers to listen to music to their hearts content. Both, SLT-Mobitel Post-Paid and Pre-Paid customers will now be able to enjoy Spotify by activating a monthly recurring subscription or one-time subscription plan and access unlimited music streaming and downloading facilities.
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by Sanath Nanayakkare
Anyone conversant with the elements of a political economy would know that Sri Lanka is using its ‘sovereign power’ to manage the different dynamics of the economy in a sustainable manner, Professor W. D Lakshman Governor of the Central Bank said on Wednesday.
“Some critics are saying that we adopt a so-called modern monetary theory. That’s not the case. In fact, Sri Lanka is using its sovereign power in a number of economic aspects to honour its external debt repayment commitments as well as to reduce its debt burden in the medium term as well as achieve resilient growth in the medium to long term, he said.
“We make policy decisions to boost our gross foreign reserves, meet our external debt servicing, to facilitate monetary expansion, to boost our GDP growth, to strengthen our current account balance and manage our domestic and external economic variables in a sustainable manner. This is not a modern monetary theory. This is an age-old tool used by central banks around the world when the circumstances demand it, he said.
“Certain trade-offs will be necessary when dealing with an economy which has a big fiscal gap to bridge. There are efforts to push Sri Lanka towards the IMF again which would in turn have influence on our policymaking. We have taken policy measures to stabilize the economy and we have adequate reserve levels to meet our debt repayments. Meanwhile, we are in negotiations with overseas central banks and multilateral agencies to further boost our reserve level and it would materialise within a matter of weeks,” he noted.
“One of the tools the Central Bank has introduced is in respect of repatriation of export proceeds into Sri Lanka and conversion of such proceeds into Sri Lankan rupees in order to strengthen the foreign exchange situation of the country,” he said.
The Governor made these remarks while delivering the keynote speech at a webinar organised by the Veemansa Initiative led by its Managing Director Luxman Siriwardene – the former Executive Director of Pathfinder Foundation.
The webinar revolved round the topic ‘External debt situation in Sri Lanka: Are we heading for a resolution or crisis?’
Professor Sirimal Abeyratne, Prof. Sumanasiri Liyanage, Dr. Nishan de Mel and Dr. Ravi Liyanage were the other speakers on the panel.
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By Hiran H.Senewiratne
CSE produced signs of a rebound yesterday with both indices closing positive, though turnover remained low. Central Bank Governor W.D Lakshman’s recent statement on managing foreign reserves gave some boost to the market yesterday, stock market analysts said.
The index experienced a zigzag movement within the early hours of trading; thereafter, it recorded a slight up-trend as it reached its intraday high of 7,439. Later, the market witnessed a down-trend at mid-day, followed by a sideways movement and closed at 7,372, gaining 43 points during the month of February, market sources said.
It is said the banking sector dominated turnover with a contribution of considerable parcel trades in Sampath Bank, Commercial Bank and HNB.
Further, the Commercial Bank’s impressive quarterly results during the recent turbulent period also built investor confidence. Commercial Bank was able to register a18 percent net interest income when other banks were reporting a decline. Its share price increased by Rs. 3 or 3.5 percent. On the previous day, its shares started trading at Rs. 85 and at the end of the day they moved up to Rs. 88. Due to the positive growth results, the bank announced a Rs. 4.40 dividend per share, plus a Rs. 2 script divergent for every share.
Further, Sampath Bank shares also appreciated in both crossing and retail. In crossings its shares appreciated by Rs. 1.At the end of the day they moved up to Rs. 154.50. In the retail market, its shares moved up by Rs. 2 or 1.3 percent. Previously, its shares fetched Rs. 154 and at the end of yesterday they moved up to Rs. 156.
Amid those developments, both indices moved upwards. The All Share Price Index went up by 104.48 points and S and P SL20 rose by 67.78 points. Turnover stood at Rs. 3 billion with four crossings. Those crossings were reported in Sampath Bank, where 3.9 million shares crossed for Rs. 602.2 million, its share price being Rs. 154.50, HNB 375,000 shares crossed for Rs. 39.4 million, its shares traded at Rs. 105, Pan Asia Power 9.5 million shares crossed for Rs. 33.2 million, its shares traded at Rs. 3.50 and Access Engineering 1.2 million shares crossed for Rs. 28.2 million; its shares traded at Rs. 24.
In the retail market top five companies that mainly contributed to the turnover were, Expolanka Rs. 450 million (10 million shares traded), JKH Rs. 205 million (1.3 million shares traded), Browns Investments Rs. 199 million (34.9 million shares traded), Sampath Bank Rs. 191 million (1.2 million shares traded) and Dipped Products Rs. 137.7 million (2.8 million shares traded). During the day 101 million share volumes changed hands in 18046 transactions.
During the day, Expolanka, the biggest contributor to the turnover, saw its share price appreciating by Rs. 6.20 or 15 percent. Its share price quoted on the previous day was Rs. 41 and at the end of trading yesterday it moved up to Rs. 47.
Sri Lanka’s rupee quoted wider at 193.50/195.50 levels to the US dollar in the spot next market on Thursday while bond yields remained unchanged, dealers said. The rupee last closed in the spot market at 194.50/195.00 to the dollar on Wednesday.
