Financial Times

Performance of plantations boosts Dipped Products

The Dipped Products Group, comprising rubber glove manufacturing operations and plantations, posted a healthy 19 percent growth in turnover at the end of the third quarter of 2002-03, but reported only marginal growth in pre-tax profits due to challenging conditions that impacted on the export of gloves.

Group profit before tax for the nine months grew just 1 percent to Rs. 172.million while post tax profits at Rs. 161.8 million reflected a negative growth of 5 percent, the company said in a statement.

Figures for the nine months ending December 31, 2002 show that profit from operations in the rubber products segment grew 6 percent to Rs. 166 million whereas profit from operations of its plantation company Kelani Valley Plantations (KVPL) grew 31.4 percent to Rs. 64.2 million.

Results from the rubber gloves business of Dipped Products were affected by recessionary conditions in North America and Europe in the period under review which were exacerbated by competition from China and other low priced producers, the statement said.

Higher raw material prices, particularly latex, and increased energy costs could not be fully absorbed by adjustment of selling prices in view of the intense competition, forcing Dipped Products to sell below desired price levels to maintain its market share. A spokesman said there is some evidence of these producers being subsidised in contravention of WTO rules.

KVPL was one of three plantations to be categorized as a 'strong' company in a recent report released by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

Twenty plantation companies were classified by the ADB into three categories strong, moderate, and weak based on their financial performance including earnings, debt service capacity, liquidity, interest cover and asset cover.

DPL Plantations, the Managing Agent of KVPL has acted with restraint on the issue of management fee, the spokesman said. The ADB has reported that KVPLis the plantation company charged with the lowest management fee by its Managing Agents.

Lankan student wins world prize at ACCA

A Sri Lankan student has won the world prize by obtaining the highest marks - among 100,000 students - at ACCA's December 2002 examination in performance management (in the final part of ACCA).

As part of ACCA (The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) celebrating the achievements of its students in professional examinations, Sri Lankan student Ms. Irushi Ratwatte has been invited to attend the prize giving taking place next month in the UK. All her travel costs to the UK would be met by the ACCA.

Ratwatte, a past student of Bishop's College, is 22 years old, a passed finalist at CIMA and presently employed at PricewaterhouseCoopers. ACCA Sri Lanka Manager Ajitha Perera said this achievement was a significant one as ACCA is a competitive examination held in over 160 countries.

IOC oil arrives in Colombo

The first tanker parcel of 30,000 metric tonnes of diesel oil imported by Lanka IOC Private Ltd (LIOC) arrived in Colombo port on March 18, in support of providing security to Sri Lanka's fuel situation, the company said.

It said this consignment was imported at the lowest rates without being subject to the recent destabilizing influences in the world oil market.

Indian Oil Corporation would be exporting more parcels of this nature to its wholly owned subsidiary in Sri Lanka - Lanka IOC, as part of its commitment to a stable petroleum industry in Sri Lanka.

These parcels exported by IOC to Lanka IOC are in addition to parcels which are being supplied by IOC to CPC under the aegis of the one-year $ 100 million term contract signed in July 2002 to supply Sri Lanka with 30,000 tonnes of diesel and 10,000 tonnes of jet fuel a month.

Lanka IOC have already started refurbishment work at 15 of the 100 fuel depots recently taken over from CPC with the first of the refurbished sheds due to be inaugurated in end May, the statement said.

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