|
The Hayleys Group
has given shareholders an indication that dividends for the
financial year ending March 31, 2006 are likely to be on par
with those of the previous year, despite performance in two
business sectors that continue to be adversely affected by
external factors.
The conglomerate's nine month results released to the Colombo
Stock Exchange last week indicate that sectors such as
Transportation, Agri Inputs, Industry Inputs and Consumer
Products have continued to perform strongly in the third
quarter, in contrast to the Group's Fibre and Activated Carbon
operations.
Group turnover for the nine months ending December 31, 2005 was
up 23 percent to Rs 17.2 billion, on the back of strong turnover
growth in Transportation (up 83 per cent), Agri inputs (up 38
per cent), Industry Inputs (up 110 per cent), Consumer Products
(up 29 per cent) and Hand Protection (up 23 per cent), the Group
said in a statement. Income from associates grew 7 percent to Rs
193 million for the nine months reviewed, with associate
companies Hayleys MGT Knitting Mills and DIMO reporting strong
results and making substantial contributions to profit.
In a note to shareholders, Hayleys Chairman Rajan Yatawara said:
"We expectthe final quarter's result to reflect an improvement
on the performance thus far achieved during the year, but the
whole year performance is likely to be lower than in the last
year."
He explained that "the strength of the Rupee vis-à-vis local
inflation continues to be a major factor impeding achievement of
the results targeted." Continued raw material shortages as a
result of a shortfall in national coconut production in the
first nine months of the year have also affected the bottomline
of the Group's fibre products and activated carbon exports.
As a result of these factors, pre tax profit for the period
under review at Rs 1.0 billion was down 21 per cent, while
profit after tax and minority interest was down 33 per cent to
Rs 386 million.
Elaborating on the external factors that impacted on the Group's
bottomline, Yatawara said: "While the coconut crop improved
during the quarter, desiccated coconut mills operated at
sub-optimal capacity and there was little activity in copra.
This restricted shell availability, and thus charcoal supplies.
Husks were less affected, but rains affected the drying of fibre.
The ongoing establishment of offshore production centres will
help insulate us against such vagaries in the future."
Yatawara has acknowledged that the Group is acutely mindful that
its likely annual result will fall short of what had been
projected at the beginning of the year.
Noting that"shareholders may be anxious that dividends for the
year will be lower than in the previous year," he has however
assured them that this should not be so. Dividend payment for
2004-05 was 35 per cent. |
|