Sri Lanka’s Tea Smallholder Factories record 47 percent increase in net profits in December 2018 quarter
Tea Smallholder Factories of Sri Lanka have reportedly announced that their net profit had risen 47 percent to Rs. 13.7 million in the December 2018 quarter from a year ago although it was still in the red for the nine months.
The company, in which John Keells Holdings has a 37.62 percent stake, reported earnings per share of 46 cents for the quarter in which sales fell 27 percent to Rs. 481 million, a local media report has stated.
The report has noted that interim results filed with the stock exchange had shown that for the nine months to December 2018 it made a loss per share of 50 cents compared with earnings of Rs. 1.82 the year before.
In the December quarter, Tea Smallholder Factories, which makes black tea from leaves bought from small farmers, made lower profits in the southern Galle low country district where it has the bulk of sales, the has explained.
The loss from its factories in the Ratnapura region had risen to Rs. 12 million while profits rose from its factories in the hill country Nuwara Eliya district.
The other two main shareholders of the firm are Akbar Brothers Limited with 24.39 percent and Central Finance Company with 22.85 percent, the report has added.
OSL take:
The increase in net profits recorded by Sri Lanka’s Tea Smallholder Factories in the December 2018 quarter when compared with the same period last year, indicates the continuous growth recorded in the country’s tea plantation sector. Foreign businesses/investors could explore opportunities to invest in Sri Lanka’s tea industry even by forming joint ventures and introducing new technologies that could further increase yields.
| Article Code : | VBS/AT/18012019/Z_5 |