JKH says to increase issued shares by 142.5 mln shares to a total of 1,190.3 mln
View(s):John Keells Holdings on Tuesday announced that it would be recommending a sub-division of shares of 7 existing shares into 8 shares which is subject to approval at its Extraordinary General Meeting. The said issue would not be increasing the stated capital of JKH, but would increase its number of shares in issue by 142.5 million shares to a total of 1,190.3 million shares.
Meanwhile to meet the equity requirement of the US$ 820 million Waterfront Integrated Resort (IR) project, some $300 million would be in equity, while debt of $ 445 million is expected to be drawn in and the remainder in pre-sales and land infusion.
The IR which commenced construction in May 2014 is expected to take 3-4 years for completion and is constructed by a consortium consisting of international contractors and local companies.
The company released its interim results for the fourth quarter and twelve months ended 31st March 2015 where the Group profit before tax (PBT) for the financial year 2014/2015 was Rs.19.08 billion, which represents an increase of 25 per cent over the previous financial year, a company media statement said. The profit attributable to equity holders of the parent was Rs.14.35 billion, representing an increase of 22 per cent over the previous financial year.
Revenue for the financial year 2014/15 was Rs.91.58 billion, an increase of 6 per cent over the Rs.86.71 billion recorded in the previous financial year.
According to the results, operating activities grew by 18 per cent to Rs. 12 billion whilst net finance income rose sharply by 64 per cent to Rs. 7.4 billion.
Finance income included interest income due to policyholders of the Union Assurance Life Insurance Fund as well as capital gains on disposals of private equity investments held under John Keells Capital, gains on short-term financial instruments, mainly at Union Assurance, exchange gains and interest income at JKH Plc, the media release said.
Total assets of the JKH Group grew to Rs. 218 billion from Rs. 201.5 billion a year earlier. Total equity rose from Rs. 134.3 billion to Rs. 150 billion and included Rs. 62.6 billion in revenue reserves. As a result group liabilities reported a dip to Rs. 67 billion from Rs. 68 billion.
For the year ended on 31 March 2015, the transportation segment’s pre-tax profit was at Rs. 2.48 billion as against Rs. 2.59 billion in the previous year. The leisure sector too was same with Rs. 5.5 billion as against Rs. 5.43 in FY14. Property sector saw it growing from Rs. 1.3 billion to Rs. 1.5 billion.