MTD Walkers forays into Maldives and Bangladesh
View(s):Integrated infrastructure and engineering solutions provider MTD Walkers PLC has made forays into the Maldives and Bangladesh in the construction sector, officials said. ”We established two firms in these countries and we see a lot of scope,” an official told the Business Times. The company’s results for the third quarter of 2015/16 saw it posting a revenue of Rs. 2.7 billion and has seen a turnaround after two bad quarters, he said. The group has managed to increase its gross profit, margin to 25 per cent from 16 per cent in third quarter last year in what continues to be a tough year for the construction industry.
“We secured some road, building and water projects and managed to channel their profits into the company in the third quarter, which helped us turnaround,” the official added. He said that MTD is eyeing fresh opportunities in the construction sector both here and abroad. Jehan Amaratunga, Executive Deputy Chairman of MTD Walkers PLC was quoted in a media release as saying, “It is encouraging to see that the Government remains committed to infrastructure development. The group has been able to broaden its scope of work and undertake a range of exciting new projects with many countries coming forward to fund development activities in Sri Lanka.
The group is now poised to return to a high growth phase leveraging on structural changes made during the slowdown experienced earlier this year”. Speaking of the results posted by the group, Viraj de Silva, Group Chief Financial Officer of MTD Walkers PLC was quoted as saying, “The construction industry is recovering quickly and we expect the industry to continue to spur economic growth in Sri Lanka. The cost control measures adopted by the group at sites and head office have enabled us to record a profitable quarter compared with the first half of the year. We expect the new operating practices of the group to be sustainable and positively affect margins in the coming quarters”.