Emirates launches cargo flights from Mattala
An Emirates cargo plane about to take off with 28 tons of air cargo to the United States from the Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport at Hambantota this week. This was the first time Emirates was launching a cargo flight from this airport. Picture by Rahul Samantha Hettiarachchi
Sri Lanka seeks IMF funding for $ 800 mln
Sri Lanka’s ailing economy is set to receive a fiscal-boosting injection as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will resume lending after the new government presents its maiden budget in November this year. The country has still not received external financing from the IMF in 2020, either as part of emergency support during the coronavirus pandemic [...]
Dinal Peiris, new Chairman – Lanka Aluminium Industries
Experienced and versatile business professional Dinal Peiris has been appointed as the Chairman of Lanka Aluminium Industries PLC, Sri Lanka’s premier manufacturer of high quality aluminium extrusions for high-rise buildings and other applications where he held the position of Managing Director since 1999. Under his direction, Lanka Aluminium has grown and diversified into many related [...]
New government gears to tackle cash flow shortfalls
The new Government is facing the immediate challenge of finding additional financial resources to meet increased spending both on health and fiscal stimulus packages amidst volatility in cash flows and balances, economic analysts said. As an immediate remedy appropriate tools will be activated to manage cash flow and provide liquidity to tackle this issue, official [...]
Hotels hungry for cash flow
City hotels in Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo are feeling the pinch of a dearth of tourists as hotels in desperation to generate cash flow are selling rooms at rock bottom prices and dependant on their food and beverage sales. In a desperate bid to generate cash flow, hotels are selling rooms as low as Rs.5000 [...]
Two new hotels coming up
Sri Lanka’s tourism industry may be dormant at present but is gearing for better times with plans for the construction of two properties in Colombo and Matara by a leisure sector investor. Bernard Hotel Management company’s Managing Director Denesh Silva told the Business Times on Thursday that they will be investing US$6.5 million in a [...]
Colombo bourse on a firmer wicket
The new Chairman of the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) is pushing for a more liquid, multiproduct and more ‘accepted’ stock market in these challenging times. In an interview with the Business Times on Thursday, Dumith Fernando, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the CSE who settled into his new role on July 1, reiterated [...]
Odd assignments
I woke up on Thursday morning when the phone rang. It was a day after the new Cabinet and state ministers had been sworn in by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and I believed the call had to do with these events. It was ‘Koththamalli’ Fernando, the ‘Kokatath Thailaya’ (oil for many ailments) expert who has a [...]
Prosperity through democracy and elections
Sunanda always had the same argument with me, whenever we had an opportunity to meet: “What should be done is very clear, and you’ll are writing about it all the time. But the question is how should it be done.” Sunanda and I were friends from our undergraduate times although he and I have chosen [...]
Sri Lanka doubles efforts of mobilising foreign financing
Burdened with heavy debts and facing a financial crisis triggered by COVID-19, Sri Lanka is doubling its efforts of mobilising foreign financing while placing high priority to implement strategic development initiatives, according to a new government’s policy framework document. The government has made arrangements to mobilise foreign financing of US$628.6 million by entering into three [...]
Sri Lankan brands, Kumarika and Baby Cheramy now in Nepal
Hemas Consumer Brands launched Sri Lanka’s most beloved baby care and hair care brands Baby Cheramy and Kumarika to the Nepalese market recently. The event was held at the Everest Hotel, Nepal and was graced by the former Prime Minister of Nepal Jhala Nath Khanal, Roy Joseph- Managing Director, Hemas Manufacturing Pvt Ltd Sri Lanka [...]
NDB 1H2020 results, navigating through crises with stability and resilience
National Development Bank PLC, facing many crises like many in the local business community due to COVID-19 and the after-effects of the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks, has shown sound results for the first six months ending June 30, 2020, with post-tax profit of the bank at Rs. 3 billion and profit attributable to shareholders at [...]
LOLC’s impressive performance puts them at the helm of the corporate sector
LOLC Group (LOLC) has concluded another financial year on a high note as per the results for the year ended March 31, 2020 – posting an impressive Rs.19.8 billion Profit after Tax (PAT) for the year in comparison to Rs.19.6 billion PAT last year. In a short span of time, LOLC has truly emerged as [...]
Tourism Alliance announces winners of Transformational Travel Designer Scholarship
The Sri Lanka Tourism Alliance, together with the US based Transformational Travel Council, on Thursday announced the winners of the scholarship for the ‘Transformational Travel Designer Programme’. Due to the overwhelming response received, the Tourism Alliance has decided to award not one but three scholarships to Andrea Goonesekera – The Fabulous Getaway, Dilsiri Welikala – [...]
SLT operating profit up by 55% in 1H2020, despite COVID crisis
Sri Lanka Telecom PLC (SLT) Group, in its financial results for the first-half of 2020, has seen a remarkable 55 per cent YoY growth in operating profit to Rs. 6.9 billion despite the challenges caused by COVID-19. Group revenue reached Rs. 44.1 billion during the first six months of 2020 demonstrating a moderate growth of [...]
COVID-19 Pandemic: Fiscal collapse and adapting disastrous policies
No country has been spared from the COVID-19 pandemic. It is an exogenous global shock that continues to disrupt the world, socially, medically, and economically. Especially affected are those countries where administrators failed to take logical, cost-effective, and decisive public health principles-based disease control actions and/or taking wrong actions. The former includes, preventing importing COVID-19 [...]
SL’s Rs. 100 m Angel Fund accepts applications from start-ups
The Angel Fund, an initiative of the Lankan Angel Network (LAN), established with the support of ecosystem development partner Ford Foundation, has begun accepting applications from early-stage start-ups in Sri Lanka with regional and global growth potential that is not limited to the tech industry. These could encompass innovative ideas in the verticals of BFSI, [...]
Sampath Bank assets reach Rs. 1 trillion in challenging 1H2020
Sampath Bank, while the economy and the banking sector as a whole continued to face unprecedented challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic, has announced that its total assets crossed the Rs.1 trillion mark for the first time in its history. However the bank recorded a decline in profit. A media release from the bank said [...]
Aitken Spence shows strong comeback in Q1 through improved performance in June
Aitken Spence PLC has made a strong comeback in June with the group’s main sectors barring tourism recording a growth in profits compared to June 2019, despite the adverse effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on overall economic activity. “It is noteworthy that three main sectors of the group; maritime and freight logistics, strategic investments and [...]