Sri Lanka Keells hotels net down 22-pct

Jan 26, 2013 (LBO) - Keells Hotels Plc, which has operations in Sri Lanka and the Maldives said net profit for the December 2012 quarter fell 22 percent to 222 million rupees from a year earlier, amid higher interest costs.





In the nine months to December Keells Hotels' Sri Lanka operations lost 117 million rupees, reversing from 103 million rupees a year earlier while Maldives made profits of 493 million rupees up from 305 million a year earlier.

The firm reported earnings of 15 cents per share for the December quarter. For the nine months to December it reported earnings of 26 cents per share on total profits of 377 million rupees.

Keells Hotels said revenues rose 27 percent to 2.

4 billion rupees in the December quarter. The final quarter which corresponds to the winter tourism season is usually the best quarter.

The firm is in an investment and refurbishment program, spending 1.

9 billion rupees in capital expenditure over the past nine months.

Finance costs rose 168 percent to 165 million rupees in the December quarter from a year earlier.