Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Sri Lanka fashion retailer net up 50-pct



Feb 06, 2013 (LBO) - Sri Lanka's Odel Plc, a unit of Parkson Retail Asia Limited, Malaysia said profits in the December 2012 quarter rose 50 percent to 81 million rupees, while warning about the effects of a value added tax imposed from January.

 The firm has 272 million shares in issue, which were issued on December 26 following a capital raising, giving earnings of 56 cents per share before the new shares were issued and 30 cents after.

 The firm reported profits of 185 million rupees for the nine months to December.

"While we are encouraged by the growth in sales across the store network, we remain cautious in forecasting the year end results for ODEL, mainly due to the possible impacts of the VAT that was introduced from 1st January 2013," chief executive Otara Gunewardene said in a statement.

"However, we are optimistic as we feel that we have laid the foundation for long term growth and ODEL is now ready to enter its next phase of development."

Sri Lanka extended value added tax to privately-owned large retail stores while ruler-run shops were exempted.

In the December quarter revenues rose 20 percent to 1.37 billion rupees and cost of sales rose at a slightly higher 22 percent to 853 million rupees, allowing gross profits to grow 18 percent to 520 million rupees.

Non operating income brought 41 million rupees to the bottom line, up from 27 million rupees a year earlier.

The company is sitting on 2.0 billion rupee cash reserve after the equity injection that came with Parkson Retail's purchase of the firm.

source - www.lbo.lk

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