Sunshine Holdings ends FY2017/18 with strong growth
View(s):Diversified Sri Lankan conglomerate Sunshine Holdings PLC has reported strong growth in turnover and profitability during the year ended 31st March 2018, with the group’s consumer and agribusiness, sectors leading growth while its sizeable healthcare segment remained the major contributor to total group revenues.
During the year in review, the group’s top line expanded by 12.4 per cent Year-on-Year (YoY) to Rs. 21.2 billion with the group’s healthcare sector accounting for 38 per cent of total revenue—despite recording limited growth during the year—followed by its agriculture and consumer sectors which contributed 34 per cent and 25 per cent, respectively.
Profit After Tax (PAT) for the period rose by 11.9 per cent YoY to Rs. 1.8 billion, supported in particular by stronger performances in the agri-sector, while Profit After Tax and Minority Interest (PATMI) grew by 47.1 per cent YoY to Rs. 829 million and earnings per share increased from Rs. 4.13 in FY2017 up to Rs. 6.08 per share in FY18, the company said in a media release.
“It has been another highly successful year for the Sunshine Group, during which time we were able to take several bold and progressive measures to shore up growth prospects for our Agri and consumer businesses including major investments into the dairy subsector,” said Sunshine Group Managing Director, Vish Govindasamy.
The group’s consumer sector reported revenues of Rs. 5.4 billion, reflecting an outstanding improvement of 27.7 per cent YoY on the back of both volume and price growth. The domestic branded tea business within consumer sold 4.5 million kg of branded tea, up 13.4 per cent YoY, driven by their largest brand ‘Watawala Tea’, and their premium brand ‘Zesta’.
During the period in review, the group’s palm oil segment contracted by 5.5 per cent YoY, owing to decreased price in Crude Palm Oil (CPO) throughout FY18. However, this decline was offset by outstanding improvements in the tea sector which posted 16.8 per cent YoY growth during the period in review owing to higher volumes and favourable market prices.