Sri Lanka’s Hemas Holdings profits surge 68-pct in June quarter

Aug 11, 2016 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Hemas Holdings which has interests in FMCG, leisure and healthcare, has posted a equity holder profit of 696 million rupees in the June 2016 quarter, up 68 percent from a year earlier, interim accounts showed.

The group reported basic earnings of 1.22 rupees per share for the quarter, against 72 cents per share reported a year ago, on a share price of 91.50 rupees. June quarter group revenues rose 12 percent to 9.9 billion rupees and cost of sales rose at a slower 8.6 percent to 6.1 billion rupees. The group grew gross profits by 18 percent to 3.8 billion rupees. “Despite flooding, VAT uncertainty and increasing inflation we generated solid performance with FMCG Bangladesh, Pharmaceutical Distribution, and our new shipping agency Evergreen,” Hemas CEO Steven Enderby said. In April 2016, Hemas Maritime was appointed the exclusive shipping line agent of Evergreen Lines. Other operating income dropped to 59 million rupees, from 70 million rupees from a year earlier while administrative expenses rose 9.5 percent to 1.7 billion rupees. Finance income rose 89 percent to 206 million rupees while finance costs fell 16 percent to 104 million rupees in the June quarter from a year ago. In the segmental analysis, FMCG sector profits rose 63 percent to 510 million rupees while healthcare sector profits rose 13 percent to 241 million rupees during the quarter. “Hospitals performance showed mixed results due to the introduction, and subsequent removal, of VAT for healthcare services, and different approaches to VAT introduction by various private healthcare operators creating market confusion.” Logistic and maritime sector profits rose 119 percent to 65 million rupees while leisure, travel and aviation sector reported a loss of 34 million rupees. He said travel and aviation segment showed mixed results with some showing improvements in both yields and number of passengers handled, while others faced competitive operating environments. Enderby said J. L. Morison posted a yearly growth of 4 percent and earnings growth of 28 percent for the quarter.

The public shareholding at the end of quarter was 35 percent comprising of 4,466 public shareholders.