Sri Lanka Nawaloka June net soars on hotel sale

Aug 06, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka's Nawaloka Hospitals group June 2010 quarter profits rose 1,350 percent to 902 million rupees on a one-off extraordinary gain from the sale of a stake in a hotel, a stock exchange filing said.

The hospital group's revenues were up eight percent to 743.7 million rupees, while cost of services had gone up 16 percent to 399 million, resulting in gross profit staying flat at 344.6 million rupees.

Nawaloka made a profit of 1.28 rupees per share, while in the same quarter last year it made a profit of nine cents, its accounts showed.

The group, controlled by the Dharmadasa family, made a capital gain of 904 million rupees from the sale of Galadari Hotels Lanka, a debt-ridden five star city hotel.

Nawaloka's staff costs were up 18 percent to 132.7 million rupees, while administration costs rose 40 percent to 154.2 million rupees.

Finance costs had come down 48 percent to 38.2 million rupees, while tax costs rose 372 percent to 15.5 million rupees, its June quarter accounts showed.

At the end of June quarter, the hospital group's gross assets rose six percent to 4.47 billion rupees, with a net asset of 3.93 rupees per share.

source - www.lbo.lk