Jetwing Symphony, Lanka Energy Fund gives CSE ‘dream start’
The Jetwing Symphony Ltd and Lanka Energy Fund (LVL) Initial Public Offering (IPO) issues presented the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) with a ‘dream start’ for this year, CSE CEO Rajeeva Bandaranaike says.
He said this at the opening of trading of LVL on Tuesday at the CSE. This company, art of HNB Group with thermal and renewable energy projects in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal, saw its trading open on Tuesday.
“Both indices are up, turnover is high, there’s net foreign purchases reaching Rs. 2 billion within the first 5 days and two new listings – all in the first week in this new year. It’s a ‘dream start’ for this year,” Mr. Bandaranaike said.
Explaining the success of their IPO, Sumith Arangala, CEO LVL noted that their sector, strategy, distribution policy, pricing and large free float contributed.
The opening price was Rs. 10.50 (up by Rs.0.5) and was trading at Rs.10 as at 9.35 am, 5 minutes after trading started. A total of 182,561 shares traded between Rs.10 and Rs. 10.50 at this time.
The company, which operates five hydropower plants through joint ventures with a combined capacity of 17 Mega Watt (MW) and two wind power projects with a combined capacity of 15.6 MW offered 120 million shares valued at Rs.10 per share, raising Rs. 1.2 billion in the IPO last month. It received bids for 142.1 million shares and was closed on opening day of 14 December 2017 itself.
Bangladesh will be their destination for thermal power and Nepal and East Africa for hydro, Mr. Arangala said. He told the Business Times that they are excited about Nepal as it has 40,000 MW capacity. “The potential is immense in Nepal.” He said that they own two 50 MW thermal power plants in Bangladesh and is to set up another 100 MW thermal power plant within this year.
The company’s 2Q18 net profit (NP) was down by 12 per cent year on year (YoY) to Rs. 153 million. Its 2Q18 profit after tax was flat YoY (amid higher interest costs), but bottomline was affected by higher minority interest.