Jan 31, 2011 (LBO) - Sri Lanka's Sunshine Holdings group has expanded into tourism and energy, converting tea estate bungalows into boutique hotels and making use of hill-country water ways to generate power, a statement said.
The group said in a stock exchange filing December 2010 quarter net profit fell 16 percent to 93 million rupees while sales rose seven percent to 2.9 billion rupees from a year ago.
"The company’s has moved into the leisure sector with the setting up of two “Mandira” boutique bungalows in the upcountry with more to follow in the months ahead," Sunshine group chairman Rienzie Wijetilleke told shareholders.
"Increased tourist arrivals as well as effective marketing have led to higher than anticipated occupancy during the period," he said in a note accompanying the quarterly results.
"We forecast this sector to grow into a sizeable business in the group as we expand across the country and overall improvement in tourist arrivals."
Wijetilleke also said the company’s hydropower subsidiary Sunshine Energy is scheduled to complete building its first plant, a 1.7 megawatt unit in Waltrim estate, Lindula, in the central hills, by December 2011.
"Two other projects have been finalized and work will begin soon, ensuring we achieve our target of 10 megawatts by 2013," Wijetilleke said.
The Sunshine group has interests in plantations, fast moving consumer goods, healthcare, packaging, travel and leisure and hydropower.
Net profit in the nine months to December 2010 rose six percent to 266 million rupes from the previous year with sales up 13 percent to 7.8 billion rupees.
Wijetilleke said sales and profits were driven mainly by the group's two major businesses, plantations and healthcare.
The plantations business gross profits rose 49 percent backed by record rubber prices and the healthcare sector improved sales of higher margin diagnostics and surgical segment sales.
The group's overheads increased by 14.6 percent in the nine-month period mainly because of personnel cost increases in the plantations sector.
Lower interest rates and better cash management across group companies led to a 24 percent reduction in finance costs.
source - www.lbo.lk
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