Sri Lanka Stock Picks

Sri Lanka stock picks site has been developed to give first hand information with regard to share trading opportunities available for investors who do not like go through lengthy research reports, calculations,etc but to have a clear idea about stocks that have future up side potential.Our service is just not for day traders but for the investors who wish to see their money growing in the long run.Our main objective is to provide information relating to trading under one roof.

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Citrus hotels in two years

Charumini DE SILVA

Citrus Leisure PLC has made several investments in its newly incorporated subsidiary companies Waskaduwa Beach Resort Limited and Kalpitiya Beach Resort Limited, a Colombo Stock Exchange filing said yesterday.

The company invested Rs 880 million to subscribe for 88 million ordinary shares of Waskaduwa Beach Resort Limited representing 62.85 percent of the issued shares. Waskaduwa Beach Resort Limited has also concluded a private placement of 52 million shares at Rs 10 per share to raise funds to finance the construction of a hotel project in Waskaduwa.

The company also invested an amount of Rs 1046.5 million to subscribe for 104.65 million ordinary shares of Kalpitiya Beach Resort Limited representing 72.18 percent of the issued shares while the Resort has also concluded a private placement of 40.35 million shares at Rs 10 per share to fund construction of the Kalpitiya hotel project.

Subsequent to the private placement of shares, both Waskaduwa Beach Resort Limited and Kalpitiya Beach Resort Limited will apply to the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) and Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka (SEC) to list shares of these companies.

The Citrus Leisure PLC is planning to complete the two hotel projects in Waskaduwa and Kalpitiya with an investment of over Rs two billion within the next two years, Citrus Leisure PLC Director Dilip Jayaweera told Daily News Business.

He said with the commencement of these two hotel projects, the company will have the ability to provide around 1,000 job opportunities.

"The main reason that we selected Waskaduwa was that it is a unique location, which has a 700-metre seashore with close proximity to Colombo.

Kalpitiya is also placed in a strategic location in the tourist zone, where travellers have the opportunity of whale and dolphin watching. It is not only the beach that the tourists could enjoy, but being close to Wilpattu makes it a location for wildlife too," he said.

The total cost of these two projects are around Rs four billion. However, the company has no intention of entering into foreign collaborations in completing the two mega hotel projects.

The existing hotel in Hikkaduwa owned by the Citrus Leisure PLC has performed outstandingly during the past nine months. The performance of this hotel is encouraging as it achieved a higher growth than expected.

source - www.dailynews.lk