Aitken Spence posts Rs 3.1 bln as profit
View(s):Aitken Spence PLC said they posted Rs 3.1 billion as profit before tax, which is an increase of 18 per cent for the nine months ended 31st December 2012, amidst challenging macroeconomic conditions. Profit attributable to shareholders rose by 24 per cent to Rs 2.1 billion, over the previous year, a company statement said.
The diversified group’s nine-month revenue rose by 30 per cent to Rs. 27.8 billion while earnings per share increased by 24 per cent to Rs. 5.11.
“Our satisfactory results for the 9-month period has been mainly driven by our tourism and strategic investments sectors. Our resorts in the Maldives performed exceptionally well with better occupancies. We are keen to strengthen our leisure portfolio in Sri Lanka and overseas. However, we would like to reiterate the need for a robust destination marketing strategy for Sri Lanka to overcome some of the key challenges we are presently facing in tourism and to achieve the industry’s full potential for the country,” J.M.S. Brito, Deputy Chairman and Managing Director of Aitken Spence PLC was quoted as saying. “Since many of our companies generate revenues in foreign currency, during the current year, we did not get the benefit of the currency depreciation compared to the previous year. This is reflected in the reduction in the other operating income during the period,” he has added.
“The full operation of our 100 MW power plant in Embilipitiya, which was shut down in the first quarter of the last financial year, strengthened the performance of the strategic investments sector when compared with the previous year,” he has said.
He has said that given the demanding global environment at present, the company would find it challenging to match the outstanding fourth quarter performance it achieved during the previous year.
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