Financial Times

Hayleys-MGT profits shore up group earnings
Hayleys-MGT Knitting Mills Ltd. has reported a sharp increase in net profit which has helped improve the bottom line of its parent, the Hayleys conglomerate.

The company, a joint venture between an Australian firm and Hayleys, reported a net profit of almost Rs 139 million for the three months ending September 30, up 40 percent from the same quarter the year before.
Turnover of the company, which produces knitted fabric, rose 14 percent to just over a billion rupees.

Hayleys-MGT Knitting Mills enjoys a 15-year tax holiday ending in 2011.
The company manufactures all types of natural and synthetic quality knitted fabric to the Sri Lankan apparel industry and has accreditation from clients like M & S, Next, BHS, Sainsbury, Mothercare, Tesco, Adams and Woolworth.
Hayleys chairman Rajan Yatawara said the contribution from Hayleys-MGT Knitting Mills helped to shore up group earnings.

“There was an improvement in the share of profits from associates, notably from Hayleys MGT,” he said. The conglomerate’s second quarter performance was similar to that of the first quarter with net profit down 17 percent to Rs 136 million.

Turnover for the period was up 35 percent to Rs 5.8 billion. “The rupee continued to be strong and rupee depreciation lagged well behind the inflation induced cost increases impacting on export companies,” he said in announcing the company’s non-audited results.

“The transportation sector in particular and the inland marketing sector (comprising agro-inputs, industry inputs and consumer products) performed strongly. Hand protection and plantations also provided worthwhile contributions.”Yatawara said coconut crops in the May-July period, which provide the carbon and fibre industries with raw materials for the second quarter, were delayed by two months, causing a decline in the performance of these two segments.

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