Making the most out of a positive Sri Lankan business environment, the Group’s three main sectors ceramic tiles, plantation, and packaging - recorded a 19.1 percent increase in turnover and a 42.5 percent surge in gross profit compared with the same period in 2009.
The Group’s achievement is even more impressive considering that its foreign markets are still recovering from the lingering effects of the global financial crisis.
Although these difficult global conditions contributed to the closure of the Group’s export-oriented Balangoda tile factory, Lanka Walltile went beyond its statutory obligations to its employees, paying more than Rs 211 million to affected workers as compensation, an amount that was significantly more than that stipulated by the Government under the TEWA scheme.
Even with this substantial charge, the Group’s net profit after tax was almost the same as that of the corresponding period in 2009.
Lanka Walltile Group’s profit before tax during the first half of the 2010 financial year rose 22 percent to Rs 315.98 million compared with the same period in 2009, spurred largely by an increase in domestic demand, especially in the construction sector.
To meet the increased demand for large tiles, Lanka Walltile is investing Rs 700 million during the current financial year to expand production capacity in the Meepe factory.
With civil construction nearing completion and premium Italian machinery due to arrive in this month, production capacity at the newly expanded Meepe factory will increase by 3,600 square metres per day.
source - www.dailynews.lk
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