LOLC reports impressive 52% half year growth

LOLC said last week it has recorded an impressive revenue growth of 60% and an income growth of 52% in the first half of the current financial year compared to the same period last year.

Revenue for the period under review was Rs. 1.5 billion while income reached Rs. 1.3 billion.

In a statement the company said profits rose to Rs. 419 million in its first half year, a growth of 13% over the previous year, despite a negative operating environment. This was attributed to aggressive growth strategy adopted by LOLC, where executions reached Rs. 6.8 billion during the first six months compared to Rs. 4.5 billion in the previous year, a remarkable growth of 51%, the statement said.

LOLC said it was gearing to be a fully-fledged financial solutions provider and has already expanded its service offerings and is well placed to cater to the financial needs across the business environment and particularly the SME sector.

“Increase in interest rates directly affected the company’s cost of borrowing, which was the main contributor to the significant increase in direct costs, which were 110% above the same period last year. Direct costs, which increased from Rs. 299 million to Rs. 626 million in the first half of this year, included direct taxes paid by the company,” the statement said.The LOLC Board of Directors comprises Rohini Nanayakkara - Chairperson, I.C. Nanayakkara, Deputy Chairman, Stuart Chapman - Managing Director/CEO, R.M. Nanayakara, K.U. Amarasinghe, M.T.L. Fernando, M.D.D Pieris, R.A. Fernando, T.H.M. Wickremasinghe, N. Esaki and Y. Ohshima.