Tea Smallholder Factories profit drops in Sept quarter
Nov 03, 2015 (LBO) - Sri Lanka’s Tea Smallholder Factories’ made a quarter net loss of 13 million rupees down from 3.4 million rupees profit in the same quarter last year, according to interim results sent to the Colombo Stock Exchange.
The company, in which conglomerate John Keells Holdings and tea exporter Akbar Brothers have big stakes, had a revenue loss of 39 percent to 470 million rupees in the September quarter.
Cost of the sales for the September quarter declined 37 percent to 475 million rupees while administrative expenses increased by two percent to 14 million rupees.
Sri Lankan tea industry is currently going through a difficult period with tea exports declining for the twelfth consecutive month due to lower demand from Middle East, Iran and Russian markets.
However the government plans to intervene in buying tea leaves through the auction in order to artificially increase tea leaves price.
The losses of Tea Smallholder Factories came mainly from the Matara and Ratnapura regions while Galle and Nuwara Elya showed profits albeit at a lower level, the accounts showed.
The company reported a loss per share of 43 cents compared to the earning per share 12 cents.
The company reported 13 million rupees loss for the six months ended 30th September from 22 million rupees compared to the same period in 2014.