Sri Lanka Distilleries group profits flat in Sept

Nov 16, 2012 (LBO) - Profits at Distilleries Corporation of Sri Lanka, which has interests in alcohol, insurance, plantations and telecom was flat at 1.6 billion rupees in the September 2012 quarter from a year earlier.

 The group reported earnings of 5.39 rupees per share. For the six months to September the group reported earnings of 10.26 rupees per share on total profits of 3.07 billion rupees, up from 2.8 billion a year earlier.

 At the core alcohol firm revenues rose 14.7 percent to 4.1 billion rupees, cost of sales rose 14.9 percent to 2.2 billion rupees and gross profits also gained 14.6 percent to 1.9 billion rupees.

Investment income rose steeply to 2.2 billion rupees from 522 million rupee a year earlier.

At group level investment income rose 10 percent to 465 million rupees, indicating that the profits may have come from internal transfers.

A breakdown of profits by sector for the nine months show that beverages brought 3.5 billion rupees in pre-tax profits, unchanged from a year earlier.

 Pre-tax profits at plantations were 141 million rupees up from 131 million, telecoms loss 133 million rupees, compared to a profit of 159 million a year earlier. Others classified as diversified made 420 million rupees, down from 654 million a year earlier.

source - www.lbo.lk