Financial Times

DPL records increased profits, turnover

Dankotuwa Porcelain Ltd (DPL) has recorded a post-tax profit of Rs. 3.5 million in the first quarter of the year, up against a loss of Rs. 2.3 million in the same quarter last year.

The company said in a statement that DPL in 2002 was successful in achieving an after-tax profit of Rs. 37.4 million which included revenue of Rs. 600 million from the export market and Rs. 166 million from the local market.

This was achieved through good marketing efforts and by marketing high value products to the export market. The list of countries that porcelain is being exported includes the US, UK, Japan, India, Middle East, Australia, Spain and Italy. The company also experienced a sales growth from countries such as Spain, Italy and UK-Macy's due to large orders they had received.

The company said that though there was an increase of over 33% in energy costs due to the fuel hikes and so on, DPL was successful in recording a profit. At the end of the third quarter the company intends purchasing a new kiln which will be delivered to Dankotuwa in mid-August. "The reason we intend to purchase a new kiln is to increase our existing plant capacity with higher flexibility and to meet the increase in demand from the export market," says the DPL CEO, Kithsiri Wijesundera.

Dankotuwa Porcelain Ltd is an associate company of International Ceramics Inc. of Tokyo, Japan, and is listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange.