Price share supplement talks on estate wages resume

Plantation companies together with the Employers Federation of Ceylon are once again negotiating the price share supplement with estate workers.

The last collective agreement signed between the unions and the estate management companies, compelled companies to pay workers a fixed daily price share supplement of Rs. 6 in addition to their daily wages.

These payments are not dependent on prices, although they are described as "price-share" supplements, and even when prices fall below cost of production, the companies are required to keep paying. Such payments add up to more than Rs. 2.5 mn a day, Planters Association Secretary General, Sene Seneviratne said.

The Employers Federation of Ceylon (EFC) has proposed unions to consider the cost of production of Rs. 95 plus a payment of price share supplement of 12 cents per rupee, Vernon Rosairo of EFC said.

He said this was essential with the net sales average (NSA) hovering around Rs. 110 to Rs. 115. "We have told them (the unions) tea prices are depressed. Even if the prices go above Rs. 145 the employers would continue to pay 12 cents per rupee over the minimum Rs. 95.

Plantation management companies are also pushing for productivity to be linked to wages, when the collective agreement for estate workers comes up for renewal in December.

Seneviratne says it is absolutely essential to link wages to productivity and performance to enable companies to pay more when quality and prices are good, and sustain the industry when prices fall.

"The workers have always resisted attempts to link wages to productivity, but with the present crisis, the industry has no other option, and we hope the government and the country in general will realise this," he said.

Meanwhile, Seneviratne's association warned the government last week to take urgent steps as declining tea and rubber prices had plunged Sri Lanka's plantation industry into a serious liquidity crisis.

"Declining tea and rubber prices, additional tax and debt burdens and unviable wage formulas have plunged Sri Lanka's plantation industry into a serious liquidity crisis,'' the association said in a statement.

It said the tea sector had lost more than Rs. 4.4 bn in export revenue in the first five months of the year, despite a production increase of nearly 12%.

"Average sale prices between January and July 1999 have fallen by about 34 rupees per kg over prices in the corresponding period last year, and producers, including smallholders, are now facing difficulties in meeting operation costs,'' the statement said.

In the rubber sector, latex crepe prices are currently about Rs. 49 per kg against Rs. 81.34 in 1997 and Rs. 61.78 in 1998. RSS1 prices were around Rs. 40 per kg against Rs. 56.62 in 1997 and Rs. 49.70 in 1998, the statement said.

"Some urgent measures will have to be taken if the country is to avert a full-blown crisis that will have serious adverse effects on the economy," Seneviratne warned.

SEC ready to fine-tune the takeovers and mergers code

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is ready to amend the Takeovers and Mergers Code shortly to strengthen the existing regulatory framework. The rules would apply to all takeovers and mergers where the target company is a listed public company.

A prominent feature in the new code is the change being made in the case of indirect takeovers. Here the new rules would compel the offeror (person who acquires the controlling stake of the target company) to make a mandatory offer to the target company, SEC Director General, Kumar Paul said addressing a seminar organised by the Chartered Institute of Management Studies last week.

For instance, if the ownership of a listed company changes hands then the new owner of the company has to make a mandatory offer to the shareholders of the listed company.

If the offer involves the sale of unlisted shares, the value of such shares would be based on a reasonable estimate of what the price would have been had it been listed. This is a vague statement, a point that the SEC has to look into to determine what the reasonable price is.

Minority shareholders must take note that a mandatory offer does not compel them to sell their shares to the offeror.

The offeror is merely carrying out a formality stated in the Act that he should make such an offer. "The offeror is not forcing minority shareholders to sell their shares," Mr. Paul said.

Another salient feature is the powers given to the SEC to waive the requirement of a mandatory offer. For instance, in an unsuccessful IPO, the underwriters would purchase the remaining shares. This does not mean that the underwriters have to make a mandatory offer. Such situations have occurred in the past, as the previous Act did not give freedom to the SEC to decide on such things, he said. The new rule would also help similar situations like placement (with the consent of the shareholders), rights issues etc.

The code also requires the shareholders of a target company to seek the services of an independent advisor before consenting to sell their shares.

Once an announcement is made, the mandatory offer to the rest of the shareholders has to be sent off within 28 days. Once the document is received, the offeree has to send his recommendations to the shareholders within 14 days.

Questions are being raised as to the exact definition of who an independent advisor is and whether the time period given is sufficient enough for the shareholders to decide.

The SEC is also looking into the possibility of making the auditors accountable for their reports.

Though a company commits a fraud, the auditor should be held responsible for the statements he prepares. The SEC is looking at the possibility of regulating the auditor at such events, SEC sources said.

This is the first time changes are being made to the Takeover and Mergers code since it was implemented in 1995.

EPF trims costs

The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) is streamlining its administration procedures to reduce costs and facilitate efficient service for its members, EPF officials said.

Member refunds are being automated and the fund hopes to issue half-yearly statements to its members commencing September, EPF Superintendent, W A Wijewardene said.

Refunds are now being done via the Sri Lanka Interbank system, with the entire process taking a maximum of seven days.

Automation has become a necessity as the fund issues around 7,000 cheques every month as refunds.

If we were to continue to use cheques it would cost us Rs. 72 per refund. With this system it costs only Rs. 10 plus Rs. 2.50 postage to inform the member, he said.

Computer terminals have been set up at Labour Department offices in Kandy, Kegalle, Ratnapura, Gampaha, Galle and the Labour Department head office at Narahenpita to enable members to check their balance or get refunds.

EPF hopes to link another eight regional labour offices by the end of the year.

There is also the problem of members having multiple accounts, which cause problems at the time of giving refunds to members. To avoid multiple accounts, the fund is embarking on a new project which uses the national identity card number as the unique number.

We have already started collecting NIC data from members who are presently employed. Once it is completed we will go on a massive publicity campaign to get NIC of non-active accounts, Wijewardene said.

To prevent delays in entering data on to the database, the fund has started to collect monthly employee contributions via diskettes.

The fund receives contributions from nearly 45,000 employers every month in respect of some two million employees.

"We have started with 35 large employers like Ports and the Water Board to get the data on a diskette to save time on data entry."

The coverage will be expanded to BOI companies as well. Once the system is established data can be transferred electronically to the EPF, he said.

For members in the outstations, the fund hopes to employ unemployed graduates and establish bureau services islandwide.

The graduates will collect the data from employers on behalf of EPF and will be transferred electronically to the EPF office.

In return for their services, the regional bureaus would charge a commission from employers.

EPF is also introducing direct debit payment system to facilitate speedier remittances of employee contributions. The process has already begun with several large companies.

With nearly seven million members EPF's objective is to update member accounts almost simultaneously by year 2000.

Mind your business

By Business Bugs

Lady unfair

The tough female who deals with the mail has got tougher with courier companies, saying their business is illegal.

The companies say the lady maybe right, but the business was carried out openly with a lot of publicity and it is just not fair to say it is illegal now.

One particular company which is affected is, after all, a subsidiary of a blue chip and its big wigs are now running hither and thither trying to get someone to tell the lady to mind her own business...

Prophetic?

The big question for large-scale investors in the Colombo market in recent times was when the polls- general and presidential- would be held.

The good professor appears to have put these doubts to rest last week- or so most of them think.

He announced- rather prematurely- that the Budget would be on the first of November, and financial circles say that is as good as saying there would be no major elections this year.

Watchdog bites

In the cellular war, the watchdog has now decided it is time to get into the act.

The first crackdown will be on cellular cards that lapse after a fixed period of time after the first usage. The watchdog thinks that this is an indirect way of charging a rental, though the ads proudly proclaim there is no rental.

The next on the firing line will be phones on offer at mega-discounts. Steps will be taken to ensure these offers are not on reconditioned phones. But implementing these measures will be the first major challenge for the watchdog's new boss...

Small businesses get a chance too

The latest introduction to Suntel's technology line-up promises small and medium scale businesses high-speed voice and data.

A CDMA based digital radio system known as Airspan, enables Suntel to provide low usage corporate customers with a fully-fledged end to end digital communications solutions. Airspan's technology is capable of providing a single connection and could be increased to a economically feasible maximum of 10 connections.

The subscriber Terminal comprises a compact radio unit, which is mounted externally at the end user's premises. This is connected by a drop cable, which connects the radio unit to an internal unit and the standard network termination unit(s). The radio unit includes an integrated flat-plate antenna that can be installed and maintained without any specialist radio knowledge. This set up is capable of supporting standard fixed network phones, faxes and modems.

Designed to provide near line-of-sight wide-area coverage, the systems operate over distances up to 25km. AS4000 systems connect to the telephony network via a standard local exchange/central office switch interface, and to data and packet networks using standard 2Mbits and 1.5Mbps interface technologies.

System Benefits

* Minimises initial capital outlay

* Reduces the cost of deploying longer or difficult loops

* Permits rapid construction of networks

* Can be "re-deployed" when copper or fibre systems arrive, reducing capital costs

* Can be deployed as an overlay network providing premium services

* Provides 'better than copper' service quality

* Provides a cost efficient backhaul alternative for cellular / cordless networks, e.g. GSM/DECT/PHS

* Provides a cost-effective solution to relieve feeder congestion.

CB gets new set of wires

The refurbished Central Bank awaiting completion by the end of this year is getting its wires crossed.

The Central Bank recently awarded a Rs. 15 million contract to Metropolitan Communications to install a fully-fledged ISDN PABX. Once installed this system would integrate the Central Bank's main office at Jandipathi Mawatha with their office at Rajagiriya and the Automated Clearing House office. The system is scheduled to be in operation by end August, early September.

The contract was awarded to Metropolitan Communications a subsidiary of the Metropolitan Group of Companies on the recommendations of Sri Lanka Telecom, who called the bids and conducted the evaluations on behalf of the Central Bank.

Metropolitan will use an Ericsson Consono MD 110 Digital PBX would form the heart of the integration, providing a capacity of over 1500 extensions with the capability of expanding upto 10,000.

The MD 110 is the widely used large capacity PBX in Sri Lanka, with over 100 installations, all of which Metropolitan claims to have installed.

Online stamp OK

Stamps.com and privately held E-Stamp Corp. said today they have received approval from the U.S. Postal Service to sell stamps on the Internet.

The move marks the first time in 80 years that the federal agency has allowed a company to offer a new form of postage to customers.

In separate statements, Stamps.com and E-Stamp said they were the only two companies to receive regulatory approval for online postage sales.

Using the Stamps.com service, customers can log onto the company's Web site and print stamps with an ordinary laser or ink jet printer, requiring no hardware.

The Santa Monica, Calif.-based company said it will start offering the service next month.

It concluded a 12-month test in Washington, D.C., Hawaii and California.

San Mateo, Calif.-based E-Stamp said online postage is available to consumers immediately. Its service requires software and a small device about the size of a roll of stamps that connects to a personal computer.

Once connected to the E-Stamp Web site, consumers can buy postage using a credit card and download up to $500 of postage. Using the hardware, customers do not have to stay logged onto the Web site to print stamps.

Other companies have offered postage services meant to cut the trips that businesses and consumers make to post offices. Pitney Bowes, for example, offers postage by phone for businesses. Reuters

Snippets

Iridium close to debt restructuring agreement

Iridium, satellite phone company, is close to agreeing a debt restructure programme, which would see 44% of its equity offered to holders of its US$ 1.45 bn debt, according to insiders.

The plan would also see Motorola invest an additional US$ 400 mn into Iridium, boosting its stake from 18% to 25%. If these negotiations are not successful, insiders fear that Iridium could be forced to declare bankruptcy.

Meanwhile, here in Sri Lanka tests are being carried out by the armed forces co-ordinated by TRCSL. The Commission hopes that allowing GMPCS in the country would contribute to Sri Lanka's efforts to become the business hub of South Asia.

This revolutionary new technology is supposed to be used primarily by travelling business executives and key decision makers.

GMPCS systems also carry the advantage of having the ability to be used in emergency and disaster situations, where most of the communication systems could go out of order.

INDIA: Telecoms' confusion deepens

India's struggling telecoms operators have been left in limbo again by a court ruling which says they can go ahead with revenue-sharing arrangements with the government but will have to revert to a fixed licence fee regime if the new parliament rejects the plan.

The court, acting in response to a public interest litigation filed by critics of a telecoms bailout, said parliament would have until December 31 to reject the arrangements or else the change will be deemed acceptable and final.

The court ruling means more uncertainty for India's private telecoms operators, which have been clamouring for relief from their crushing licence fee burden.

Elections are due to start next month, and voting will conclude in October.

What happened to the 'Q' & 'Z'?

Why don't the buttons on your phone have "Q" and "Z"?

Your telephone has a strange alphabet: three letters to a button, beginning on button number two and finishing on number nine, with no "Q" or "Z." Why?

The early phone companies thought that seven-digit phone numbers would be too hard to remember. So as a mnemonic device they assigned the first two letters of a word to the first two digits of each phone number. For example, 555-1234 became KL5- 1234, the "KL" standing for "Klondike."

A phone number couldn't begin with a letter on the zero position because dialling that would call the Operator. And letters couldn't go on the "one" because it was used for phone company internal codes. That left eight numbers and twenty- six letters, but twenty-four letters made an even fit. "Q" and "Z" were least likely to be needed for the mnemonic words, so they were banished forever.

(Source: DO PENGUINS HAVE KNEES? By David Feldman)

Sita to restructure as airlines switch to IP

Sita SC, the network services provider to the air transport industry, plans to change from a non-profit making co-operative to a dual-structure organisation, creating a separate commercial entity, Sita NV, specialising in systems integration.

The 50-year-old Geneva-based Societe Internationale de Telecommunications Aeronautiques SC, which serves 692 airline members, plans to carry out the restructuring by October. It hopes the new structure will let it forge joint ventures and re-shape itself as a systems integration company at a time when the airline industry is moving away from proprietary airline protocols and adopting IP-based networks and applications.

"The Internet has taken a real grip of the hearts and minds of our customers [and] they're asking us to do more in these areas," said Peter Heath, Sita's president, north-east and central Europe.

The move will result eventually in an initial public offering of shares.

After that there "is a very definite possibility" that Sita NV could be acquired by another company, according to Eric Paulak, Stockholm-based research director at the Gartner Group.

Heath admitted: "Being the only seamless global information and telecommunications solution provider to the air transport industry obviously makes SITA attractive to a number of large players who have global aspirations."

Sita's strength in network services is founded on the proprietary transport protocols peculiar to the industry sector it serves. But a report on IT trends in the airline industry commissioned recently by Sita found that 85% of the world's airlines are moving to IP-based networks and applications.

The Dutch airline KLM, a customer of Sita, said the uptake of IP by the airline industry could loosen Sita's hold on the sector. "The competition will probably increase; with IP you have to add something to distinguish yourself," said Jan Van Bekkum, project manager of outsourcing at KLM.

One industry analyst, who declined to be named, was blunter: "Airlines are moving to a TCP/IP front end, which dispenses with the need for [proprietary] routed protocols and potentially dispenses with the need for Sita in the longer term, taking the airlines to a commodity marketplace where the telcos will rely on massive volume [and] low margins."

But even if Sita faces new competition, British Airways' general manager of information management and strategy, Peter Giles, argues that "IP will fuel Sita's growth. [With IP] airlines will be able to make use of services - richer messaging services and intranet access."

Faced with this shift to IP, Sita will attempt to exploit its understanding of airline businesses and the applications they use in order to offer systems integration services. In particular, it will concentrate on systems integration work in areas such as data warehousing and desktop management designed to help airlines manage customer relationships.

"[Airlines] have an enormous amount of data and are looking at ways, such as data mining, to access it," said Heath.

According to Van Bekkum, Sita already offered some systems integration services, but "not all members use [them] so they didn't want to finance that."

In order to acquire expertise in IP applications and systems integration, Sita plans to form alliances with other companies. It has been working with IBM since last year on systems integration, covering areas such as desktop computing, IP applications and thin client technologies. But the company's status as a non-profit making "societe co-operative" prevents it taking equity stakes in software or systems integration firms, and prevents other enterprises investing in Sita, noted a company spokesman.

"If we're going to develop, then we have to form new relationships rather than do it ourselves. And we have to develop a structure to allow that to happen," said Heath. "There's a great need for additional knowledge," he added.

The clock is ticking

With all due respect to those great scientists who invented satellites, computers and software, we are on the verge of another of mankind's blunders. On August 21 1999 Global Positioning Systems (GPS) will go back in time when its date roles over to 0000. The network of 24 GPS satellites keeps track of dates by recording the number of weeks from midnight on Jan. 5, 1980. By the 21of this month at the stroke of midnight the counter will reset to 0000 after week 1023.

This is because the GPS uses modular 1024 approach based on a 8 bits - one bite system, which means 1024 bytes will be one kilo bite. The best or worst part is that computer programmers have known about it for years but never paid much attention to it. Get this they even have a name for it, they call it the "#1K" problem.

Companies and government agencies that use the GPS system must test ground units and software applications to ensure the rollover will be handled correctly. All major receivers and ground support units have planned for the rollover so there shouldn't be a problem, we hope.

Other days to watch out for

Feb. 29, 2000. The year 2000 is an especially rare type of leap year that occurs once every 400 years. Many applications may assume that 2000 is not a leap year, says Jones, and that assumption needs to be tested. Computers that fail to recognise this could either shut down or double-post calculations. Either could cause disaster.

Sometime in 2012. Around this time, the number of phone numbers in the United States will exceed the capacity of the number of digits currently assigned, unless another number scheme has been introduced. When the saturation point is reached, massive software updates will be necessary.

Jan. 19, 2038. The Unix operating system stores dates as the number of seconds accrued since Jan. 1, 1970. This method works until Unix time reaches 2,147,483,647 seconds, which will occur on Jan. 19, 2038, at 3:14 a.m. Some applications written in C may then revert to Jan. 1, 1970, as the current date, while others may assume it is Dec. 13, 1901.

Would you pay for free incoming calls?

Would you, as a fixed phone user like to pay for calls you make to cell phones?

A project led by the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRC) is hoping to shift the cost of incoming calls incurred by cell phone owners to the party making the call.

In other words the person making a call to mobile phones will pay a higher rate to compensate for the free incoming calls to mobile phones.

At present, the costs incurred by the cellular operators on terminating incoming calls are passed on to the cellular phone user receiving the call. This system, known as Mobile Party Pays (MPP) has been progressively moving towards a partial Caller Part Pays (CPP) system due to intense competition in the cellular sector, TRC officials said.

Under this system, fixed phone subscribers will be charged for fixed access operators' retail fee (network costs), fixed access network retention fee (cost of billing, collection, bad debts, etc. for collecting cellular termination fee) and the cost incurred by the cellular operator.

Mobile phone users are charged for incoming calls because cellular operators incur a higher cost compared to that of a fixed access networks. The primary reason for this is the mobility of mobile phone users compared to their counterparts using the landlines. Such coverage is extended by creating new base stations, covering vast areas.

However, at present the fixed access operators do not distinguish between calls to other fixed and cellular networks when charging their subscribers.

A sender keeps all regime operates between the cellular and fixed access operators except for Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) and the cellular operators. The cellular operators pay SLT for calls generated from its subscribers, but does not pay for the cellular operators for calls generated from their networks. Such an agreement however does not exist between the Wireless Local Loop (WLL) operators and the cellular operators.

Tokyo Cements' best ever year

By Dinali Goonewardene

Tokyo Cement Lanka Ltd. is calling for a regulator for the cement industry. "At present 40 per cent of the country's cement requirement is met from imports, some of which are substandard," Chairman Tokyo Cement Lanka, A.Y.L. Gnanam, has said in his annual report to shareholders.

"A proper regulatory body comprising representatives from the public and private sector should be set up by the government," Tokyo Cement's, joint Managing Directors, S.R Gnanam and K.Yanagihara have said.

Severe competition in the market saw the company launch its second brand, Atlas Cement, to meet competition at the lower end of the market. Atlas has been granted the SLS 107 mark by the Sri Lanka Standards Institute.

During the year, the company expanded its operations, setting up a Rs. 500 million plant, through its newly incorporated subsidiary Fuji Cement Company (Lanka) Ltd.

The plant is used to produce the company's premier brand, Mitsui Cement and the process was awarded the ISO 9002 certification.

The company's consolidated profit after tax increased by 73 per cent to Rs. 284 million for the year ended March 31, 1999. Profit after tax for the previous year was Rs. 163 million.

"Tokyo Cement has recorded its most outstanding performance in the company's history last year," directors S.R Gnanam and K.Yanagihara told shareholders.

Gains from cheaper raw material prices increased profits. A substantial improvement in efficiency and productivity backed by cost reduction also helped the bottom line.

This was aided by a 40 per cent cut in energy cost as a result of using the company's own power plant.

Turnover increased by 2 per cent, from Rs. 1.72 billion in 1997/98 to Rs. 1.76 billion in 1998/99.

Tokyo Cement's capital gearing decreased to 32 per cent in the financial year 1999 from 34 per cent the previous year. Interest cover increased to 664 times in the financial year 1998/99 from 40 times in 1997/98.

Consolidated earnings per share increased to Rs. 18.93 during the financial year from Rs. 11.52 the previous year.

Dividend per share was Rs. 3.20 in the financial year 1999 up from Rs. 2 the previous year.The company's price earnings ratio at March 31, 1999 was 2.77 and may be compared to a market PE of 6.27 in the manufacturing sector.

"The scope for higher growth in the construction sector is promising," A.Y.S.Gnanam said, commenting on the cement industry and the company's future. The government's Public Investment Programme from 1997-2000 is worth Rs. 1659 billion and envisages substantial expenditure on infrastructure and construction.

The Bureau of Infrastructure has estimated US $ 3 billion worth of infrastructure in Sri Lanka, within the next 5 years. The cement market is expected to grow by 10 per cent in 1999/2000. "The period between 1999 and 2000 is expected to be a difficult period for the economy and we will focus on consolidating our market share," S.R Gnanan and K. Yanagihara said.

In the long term the company is also committed to achieving ISO 14002 standard in an effort to improve productivity and efficiency in addition to seeking a cleaner production process.

Tea update

Local tea prices took a tumble in last week's auctions surprising everyone. August, generally a month of improved demand from Japan, Germany, Holland, U.K. and USA saw a lack in demand in last week's auctions, John Keells Tea Brokers said.

The drop was attributed to the coinciding holiday season in some of these countries. Overall, the market weakened over the previous week with the exception of low growns which firmed up a little as the movement of goods in the Middle East improved.

Forbes and Walker Tea brokers feel that the increased demand for teas at the bottom end of the market is a cause for concern to producers focused on producing a quality product.

Global demand too is expected to drop due to the holiday season and the heat wave passing through most parts of Europe and the United States.

Global production is also expected to drop due to the prevailing drought in major tea producing countries.

The drastic changes in weather patterns influenced by El-Nino are blamed for the change in demand and production.

Tea producing countries combined have reported nearly 100mn kg drop in production in the first half of 1999, Asia Siyaka Vice President Anil Cooke said.

On the other hand, local tea production saw record crops for the first four months followed by a drop in May and June. Overall the Sri Lankan crop recorded marginal gains for the first half of the year.

However, low production levels have failed to boost tea prices globally.

Market update

Lacklustre trading in the Colombo bourse dampened the market during the week. The All Share Price Index declined marginally by 0.29 per cent to close at 583.2 while the Milanka Price Index registered a 0.68 per cent decrease to close at 971.7. Foreign purchases for the week totalled Rs. 87 mn while foreign sales amounted to Rs. 73 mn. Local funds dominated the market.

Speculative trading on Trans Asia and Asian Hotels took place during the week, amidst rumours that Asian Hotels would sell its stake in Trans Asia Hotel. Foreign interest in the deal was hinted at. However Trans Asia denied being aware of information which would have caused the shares to trade.

Meanwhile plantation stocks dropped at the end of the week as high grown prices at the tea auction fell.

Increased trading of John Keels Holdings at the beginning of the week was attributed by analysts to the signing of the Colombo Port container terminal development project in which JKH has a stake of 26.5 per cent.

Top gainers for the week include Serendib Hotels (20%), Kelani Cables (19.055) and Stafford Hotels (18.18%). Ferntea lost 14.81%, while Eden Hotels declined by 14.81% and Blue Diamonds Jewellery lost 12.5 %.

Gujarat Glass Ltd of India, which acquired 46.06 per cent of Ceylon Glass Company Ltd has made a mandatory offer for the remaining shares at Rs. 20.50.

"The pessimism in the market will continue next week," Director Research, John Keels Stock Brokers, Nandakumar Nair predicted. He said corporate results are expected to be mixed and market movements will be mixed, with increased buying in the case of good results and vice versa. "Foreign investment in August will be quiet, as the US federal reserve is expected to meet in the third week of August to decide on interest rates. August is also a month most foreign fund managers take leave from work," he said.

"The Central bank has reduced statutory reserve ratio of the banks from 12 per cent to 11 per cent and this may generate interest in banking stocks," predicted Head of Research NDBS Stock brokers Chanaka Wickramasuriya. "Plantation stocks will depend on the tea auctions," he added.

"Tension between India and Pakistan has a direct impact on investor sentiment," Head of Research, CDIC Sassoon Cumberbatch Stock Brokers, Diluk Desinghe said. "Trading will be sluggish with investors adopting a wait and see attitude unless tension between these two countries is defused," he said.

Analysts at CT Smith's Stock brokers believe there will be consolidation in the next week with possible marginal declines. They expect plantation stocks to stagnate at present levels. "The market will remain at these levels as interest is centred on blue chips at present price levels but not at higher levels," they said.

Delta reports record net income

Delta Air Lines reported a record unaudited net income of US$ 1.1 Billion for the fiscal year 1999, a 10 percent increase from the fiscal year 1998 net income. Other performance highlights for fiscal year1999 include a diluted income per common share of US$7.20 up 14 percent and record operating revenues of US$14.7 billion, up 4 percent. The airline's record operating income also rose 10 percent to US$1.9. billion while the operating margin went up 0.7 points recording an increase of 12.7 percent, and the load factor rose 72.6, up 0.5 points.

Fiscal 1999 also saw Delta strategically strengthen its network. In the June quarter the acquisition of Atlantic Southeast Airlines (ASA) was completed and ASA now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of Delta.

Based on Department of Transportation data for the year ending May 1999, of the ten major airlines Delta was ranked second in on-time, second in fewest mishandled bags and third in fewest customer complaints. This ranked Delta within the top three in all these three categories. Also during the fiscal year 1999 Delta completed interior refurbishments on 487 aircraft, by which the airline completed a full fleet interior refurbishment programme begun in October 1997.

Colombo Port gets more ships calling

By Gunapala Ranasinghe

There is a daily increase in the number of ships that call at the Colombo Port, though some say that there is a decrease. This is an error.

Chairman of the Sri Lanka Ports Authority, Admiral Mohan Samarasekera, refuting this rumour said speculation that most of the ships that called here previously are now by-passing Colombo and call at Salala, Aden and other ports is wrong.

In the first half of 1998, 1867 ships called here, out of which 1447 were container ships, and 384 general cargo, with 36 other vessels.

But this year during the same period, as many as 2033 ships called at Colombo of which 1560 were container ships, 421 general cargo with 52 other ships.

If there was a change in the economic progress in the port, it was due to the Asian economic slide, which as a country we could not have avoided, said the Admiral. The Colombo port has decided to embark on a two-course plan, for its development. One is a long term plan and the other a short term plan, he said.

It is mainly on the direction of the Minister of Port Rehabilitation M.H.M.Ashraff that all the development programmes in the port will be based. The special reason for the decision of these new development plans is, that Colombo port has to be geared to stand up to influences of the challenge, faced by Sri Lanka and the need to face up to the standard of other ports.

"With these changes we hope to stand up to any challenge thrown by ports of the calibre of Salala, Aden and Singapore, which is a subject that has now come to be the talking point of many. He pointed out that, as Sri Lanka is a democracy, and as the question of transparency in the said development, changes will arise invariably and there may be a short delay in the implementation of the proposed changes.

"The port has already taken certain steps in the direction of effectiveness of the port, under the said short term plan. One of them is to work on a round-the- clock service, to cut down waste of time, which means that ships that call over here, will be sent back with the shortest possible delay," said Adm. Samarasekara.

He added that deploying new computer technology like in all ports elsewhere, the Sri Lanka Port also will use new computer technology, in its day to day work in the port.

Madagascar bound gem dealers and visas

Ceylinco Universal Limited the General Sales Agents for Air Mauritius in Colombo recently clarified the hearsay information or rumours that had been floating about the necessity to obtain a business visa to enter Madagascar for the second time for dealing in gems.

The Air Mauritius office in Colombo now confirms that it is only a rumour as they have been in touch with their counterparts in Madagascar who have confirmed that any Sri Lankan passport holder could travel to Madagascar any number of times and obtain a tourist visa on arrival by making a visa payment of USD 20 and this visa could even be extended for a maximum period of 3 months with an additional payment prior to expiry of their one month period.

The confusion amongst the gem trade is how one should obtain a business visa and that is only possible by Sri Lankans engaging in business with companies in Madagascar and applying for a residence visa.

Air Mauritius in Colombo provides you all facilities to travel to Antananarivo in Madagascar via Singapore and Mauritius and also they provide free hotel accommodation at these tranist points.

They have 2 flights a week via Singapore on Wednesdays and Saturdays and 3 flights via Bombay on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and also via Hong Kong on Tuesdays.

Air Mauritius also could arrange hotel accommodation and tour packages in Mauritius and Madagascar through their associate company, Holiday Plus and payments and reservations could be made in Sri Lanka. This means no hassle of hotel accommodation being made by the passenger and payment made in foreign currency when checking out.

Mauritius is an exotic holiday resort whose best season is now on and all details could be obtained through travel agents and the Air Mauritius office in Colombo.

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