Diesel & Motor Engineering PLC (DIMO) is struggling to supply its latest TATA Nano cars to the Sri Lankan market with officials saying they cannot cater to the surplus demand.“We have booked 600 cars and Tata in India is struggling to send them as they are unable to meet the demand. These cars are moving so well and the demand is really high," Ranjith Pandithage, Chairman/CEO DIMO told the Business Times.
TATA Nano was commercially launched in India on March 2009 and in June in Sri Lanka. “It offers an incredibly spacious passenger compartment which can comfortably seat four adults and is priced at Rs 800,000 to Rs 1 million,” Mr. Pandithage added.
With the current tourism boom, DIMO will be eyeing the transportation sector. “DIMO has plans to expand into the leisure sector with transport logistics,” Mr. Pandithage said.
He also said that DIMO’s Driver Training Centre at Suriyawewa worth Rs.250 million will be ready by February next year. Noting the company’s expansion plans, Mr. Pandithage added that the land in front of DIMO head office at Jetawana Road, Colombo 14 which they own will be turned into a commercial vehicle facility. “We bought a land at Thotalanga, Colombo 14 (the former Ferntea Company land) at nearly Rs. 680 million to put up a state-of-the-art showroom service centre and are park for TATA passenger as well as Mercedes Benz cars. It’ll house our showrooms and sales facility,” he said.
He said their Bosch Centre at Bloemendhal Road worth Rs. 250 million will also be ready by next year. He added that DIMO will start their ‘3S’ (Sales, Service and Spare parts) Centres in Trincomalee, Jaffna and Kilinochchi by next year.
Piramal Glass’s half-year FY2012 net profit up 82 %
Piramal Glass Ceylon Plc (PGC), a manufacturer of flaconnage (glass containers) for speciality food and beverage, cosmetics, perfumery, agro chemicals, wine as well as pharmaceuticals, says its net profit rose sharply to Rs. 384 million in the first six months of FY 2012, up 82.6 % from Rs. 210 million in the previous corresponding period, according to a company statement.
CEO & Managing Director Piramal Glass Ceylon Plc , Sanjay Tiwari, said “the quarter-ending September 30, 2011, has shown exceptional performance of the company on all fronts. PGC turnover grew by 25% from Rs. 1,027 million to Rs. 1,280 million compared with that of the same period last year. The main driver for this achievement was the export sales which grew by 47% during this quarter. It was also motivating to note that nearly 100% of all export sales were dominated by premium market products, which brought about high realisations. The overall turnover was also well supported by the domestic sales growth of 18%”.
Overall sales showed a continuous growth trend in the first half, rising from Rs. 1,894 million in first half of FY 11 to Rs. 2384 million in the same period, FY 12. Domestic sales followed a similar pattern, increasing by 24%.
Vijay Shah, Chairman Piramal Glass Ceylon PLC said, “The overall performance, at present, both in domestic markets and niche export markets are an endorsement of the journey the company has undertaken to become the most preferred speciality glass packaging solutions provider in Asia. The future looks bright, and we are firmly poised to exceed customer expectations by always bringing innovative designs and manufacturing solutions.”
The continuous focus of the management towards operational efficiencies have shown results. Gross Margins too have increased from Rs. 611 million in first half of FY 11 to Rs. 740 million, up 21 %.
ComBank to open 57 service points on Deepavali day
The Commercial Bank of Ceylon said this week it will keep open 57 service points on Deepavali Festival Day, October 26 which is a statutory Public and Bank holiday.
All over-the-counter transactions will be possible at the bank’s branches at Wellawatte, Kollupitiya, Kotahena, Maharagama, Borella, Nugegoda, Narahenpita, Battaramulla, Panchikawatte, Union Place, Wattala, Dehiwala, Moratuwa, Nittambuwa, Kiribathgoda, Avissawella, Piliyandala, Main Street, and at the Foreign Branch at Colombo 1, Colombo 7, Ampara, Galle City, Kandy City Centre, Jaffna, Negombo, Majestic City, Katubedde Holiday Banking Centre and Kurunegala as well as at its 29 Supermarket Banking Counters.
SL Design Festival 2011 themed ‘Close-up’ gets underway next month
The Sri Lanka Design Festival (SLDF) 2011, conceptualised by the Academy of Design (AOD), Sri Lanka’s leading design campus and organised in close association with industry leaders and the government, gets underway next month at the Mount Lavinia Hotel.
The event is to take place under the theme of Close-up on Sri Lanka, extending an open invitation to the world to take a look at Sri Lanka’s potential to lead in design and creativity, the organisers said.
In a statement, AOD said it organizes design festival annually, to highlight the country’s creative wealth in several sectors like apparel industry, fashion, design and crafts. AOD has established creativity’s role in development by fusing the major creative based industries like apparel manufacturing with young design talent, by raising the bar in creative education and by implementing model projects in craft revival with design intervention.
SLDF 2011’s ‘Close-up on Crafts’ festival highlights livelihood development and craft revival projects involving artisan communities in the North and East regions and traditional craft communities in the central and Southern provinces and an exciting new weaving project in Divulapitiya under the government’s Liya Abhimani project. The close-up on craft will feature home-ware, fashion and product design through an exhibition, a pop-up store and a fashion show.
The festival is endorsed by its key stakeholders, Sri Lanka Apparel and the Ministry of Economic Development and many other sponsors. |
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