Sri Lanka’s construction industry growth at 20% annually
View(s):The Sri Lankan construction industry last year continued to grow at 20.2 per cent on the back of declining interest rates and low inflation, according to an industry report. Alumex PLC annual report for 2014 /15 has said that in 2014 Sri Lanka GDP growth was at 7.4 per cent with the major contribution from the Construction Sector which saw a growth rate of 20.02 per cent.
“The demand for aluminum in the Asian region continues to grow and in Sri Lanka it increased in volume terms by 12 per cent,” A.M. Pandithage Chairman, Alumex PLC has said in his annual statement.
Alumex Group turnover was Rs. 3,307 million and profit before tax Rs. 613 million for the year ended 31st March 2015. ”The initial public offering (IPO) funds received were utilized to build a new powder coating plant and to purchase the manufacturing equipment, benefits of these investment already reflected in our ability to provide larger quantities of powder coated profiles with a lower lead time as well as enhance the quality of our dyes. Due to lack of space in the existing promises, Alumex also purchased land of 292 perches in extent during the year,” Mr. Pandithage has said.
Profit after tax was Rs. 477 million compared to Rs. 379 million in the previous year, an increase of 26 per cent. ”Due to the significant demand for aluminum profiles from the local construction sector, concentration on marketing was confined to Sri Lanka and consequently we were unable to expand our export market to the levels we were targeting. Exports were further obstructed with an introduction of an Export Control Licence which required a minimum of two months to process,” Managing Director Alumex L. Peiris said in his statement.
He has added that the Aluminum industry in Sri Lanka has over the years concentrated mainly on commercial buildings and the hardware market but this year Alumex targeted a hitherto untapped market with the launch of the LUMIN range of products.