Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Turnover nudges Rs. 5 bn. driven by Hotels Corp & DFCC

Heavy retail play on HVA, Colombo Lands and Lanka Hospitals
Turnover on the Colombo bourse ysterday nudged the Rs.5 billion mark with both indices moving up driven by large trades in the Ceylon Hotels Corporation (CHC), DFCC and to a lesser extent by recent high flyers including HVA Foods, Colombo Land and Lanka Hospitals (Apollo).

The All Share Price Index was up 41.94 points (0.61%) and the Milanka 10.88 points (0.17%)on a turnover of Rs. 4.9 billion, up from Rs. 2.6 billion the previous day, with 99 gainers slightly ahead of 93 losers.

The biggest business generator was CHC where 31 million shares were crossed at a price of Rs.35 with the counter gaining Rs.2.30 to close at Rs.34 on over 31.8 million shares traded between Rs.31 and Rs.40 generating a turnover of Rs.1.1 billion.

Well informed sources said that the controlling shareholder had engaged in a restructuring but had not sold off any shares outside the group. According to a Stock Exchange filing, Curlew (Pvt) Ltd., the parent company of CHC which held 52% controlling interest, had acquired additional 18% from connected parties.

DFCC Bank too saw slightly over 7.9 million shares done, the majority by a crossing of 7.9 million shares at a price of Rs.135 in one large parcel shortly after trading opened yesterday. The counter gained Rs.4.20 to close at Rs.136 trading between Rs.134 and Rs.136 contributing nearly Rs.1.1 billion to turnover.

There was a surge of activity on HVA Foods where nearly 13.8 million shares were traded between Rs.48 and Rs.58.50 gaining Rs.12.50 to close at Rs.56.50 generating a turnover of Rs.750.9 million.

The CSE imposed price bands on HVA and on Singer Finance with effect from Sept. 1 to Sept. 7 inclusive of both days as both shares had been moving up steeply in recent days.

Singer Finance saw over 4.4 million shares traded between Rs.38.70 and Rs.43.40 gaining Rs.2.90 to close at Rs.41.60.

Other shares that were highly traded included Colombo Land and Lanka Hospitals which were largely retail driven. Colombo Land closed Rs.2.10 up at Rs.65.50 on nearly 4.5 million shares while Lanka Hospitals gained a rupee to close at Rs.67.90 on 2.7 million shares.

Multi Finance, a newly listed finance company, gained Rs.11.60 to close at Rs.63.90 on nearly 3.8 million shares done between Rs.51.60 and Rs.66.60.

Softlogic Finance announced an interim dividend of Rs.1.50 per share for 2011/12 XD from Sept. 9 and payment on Sept. 15.

Other dividends announced yesterday were by Coco Lanka which will pay a final dividend of Re.1 per share for 2010/11 following an AGM on Sept. 16. The share will trade XD from Sept. 19 with payment on Sept. 21.

Ceylon Theatres group announced final dividends for 2010/11 for three companies, Office Equipment (Rs.30 per share), Kalamazoo Systems (Rs.5 per share) and Ceylon Printers (Rs.10 per share).

Brown & Company announced an interim dividend of Rs.1.32 per share for 2011/12 XD from Sept. 8 with payment on Sept. 19.

source - www.island.lk

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