Feb 12, 2010 (LBO) - Sri Lanka's John Keells Hotels said net profit for the December quarter shot up 471 percent to 83 million rupees from a year ago as tourism recovered from the effects of recession and a war.
Revenue rose seven percent to 1.6 billion rupees, the company, part of the John Keells conglomerate with resorts in Sri Lanka and the Maldives, said in a stock exchange filing.
The December quarter gains helped reduce losses in the nine months ending December 31, 2009 by half to 273 million rupees from the year before.
Sales rose 18 percent to 3.96 billion over the same nine-month period.
The bulk of the revenue came from the group’s Maldivian resorts which ended the nine-month period with an operating profit of 70 million rupees compared with a loss of 180 million rupees the year before.
The firm’s hotels had been affected by the slump in tourist arrivals because of global recession.
A segmental analysis of the results showed the Sri Lankan resorts were still in the red at the end of nine months although losses had halved to 108 million rupees.
Keells Hotels increased its stake in two Sri Lankan hotels – Yala Village and Kandy Walk Inn - in July 2009.
In December 2009, the firm also invested 357 million in Trinco Holiday Resorts, which in January 2010 bought the Club Oceanic, one of the two better known resorts on the island’s east coast.
John Keells Hotels said it was now refurnishing the Club Oceanic.
Sri Lanka’s tourism prospects have improved with the end last May of its 30-year ethnic war and hotels reported full occupancy in the current winter season.
source - www.lbo.lk
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