Sri Lanka’s Asia Siyaka Commodities records increase in business by improving warehousing
The improved use of warehousing, which was doubled in recent years, has reportedly helped Sri Lanka’s Asia Siyaka Commodities offset a decline in its tea brokering business last year.
“In recent years, we have sought to diversify our earnings streams in order to reduce exposure to relatively volatile broking business,” Managing Director and Chief Executive Anil Cooke said has been quoted as saying in the local media.
The Company has focused on driving growth in its warehousing operations with initiatives launched to optimise warehousing capacity including broadening the customer base and increasing market penetration by getting new customers, he has further stated.
As a result, capacity use at the warehouse increased to 93.5 percent and revenue generated rose to 34 percent of consolidated revenue in 2018-19, compared to 28 percent the previous year, local media reports stated.
Asia Siyaka Commodities has reported a 16 percent increase in net profit to Rs. 113 million in the financial year of 2018-2019.
Cooke has told shareholders in the Company’s annual report that the decline in tea prices and export volumes has had a direct impact on its broking business, with revenue declining by 12 percent to Rs. 269 million.
However, sales generated from the group’s warehousing operation has reportedly increased by 13 percent to Rs. 247 million during the year supported by better utilisation levels as the group sought to diversify its customer base.
“Following the commissioning of our second warehousing facility two years ago, the group has successfully doubled its storage capacity and positioned itself as a dominant force in this industry space,” Cooke has further noted.
OSL take:
The increase in business recorded by Asia Siyaka, which is a brokering company in Sri Lanka, through warehousing is indicative of the growing business/investment potential in the country. Sri Lanka’s economic policies along with the aggressive development programme that covers all key economic sectors islandwide and the ease of doing business environment have helped the growth of local businesses as well as build Sri Lanka as a business destination in the Indian Ocean region. Foreign businesses/investors could explore business/investment opportunities in Sri Lanka.
| Article Code : | VBS/AT/11092019/Z_1 |