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Carson Cumberbatch and Company Limited reported a notable growth in consolidated turnover and profit before tax in the half-yearly review for the six months ended September 30, 2002.

This growth has brought about by increases in both business voluments and profitability in their core businesses, namely, brewery, investment holdings and palm oil, based in Sri Lanka and the South East Asian region, whilst real estate and leisure sectors have not performed up to expectations.

Consolidated turnover was Rs. 2 billion and consolidated profit after tax Rs. 327 million while the shareholders' funds including minority interest as at September 30, 2002 was Rs. 6.9 billion. The half yearly results for the current year reflects almost the entire profitability of the last financial year.

The recovery in palm oil prices in global markets strengthened the performance of the plantation business.

These prices are expected to hold for the next few months, enabling the sector to generate a reasonable return this year. The new plantation project in Indonesia, PT Agro Indomas (PTAI), which currently has over 3,000 hectares of immature area representing 22% of the total planted area, will attain full maturity during the year 2003/04. PTAI recorded a turnover of Rs. 489.77 million during the period under review. The performance of PTAI is expected to improve towards the end of the financial year, given the steady world market prices and high cropping period projected towards the latter part of the year. A planned replanting program at present being done in the Malaysian plantations of the Group in order to ensure competitiveness and productivity in the long term.

A modest growth in sales, together with the cost savings resulting from consolidation of operations at one location, account for the improved performance for the quarter, when compared with the previous year.

Nevertheless, low consumer purchasing power and regulatory constraints continued to affect shareholder returns. Brewery sector reported a turnover of Rs. 1.18 billion during the first half of the current financial year, while the profit after tax was Rs. 263 million.

Being a pioneer and the market leader in this industry in Sri Lanka, the Group's brewery business continues to emphasise the need for speedier implementation of reforms in the regulation of the soft alcohol industry. During the six months under review, the market value of the Guardian Group portfolio grew by 36% while market value as at 30 September stood at Rs. 2.3 billion. A consolidated profit after tax of Rs. 128.97 million was posted by the Guardian Group.

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Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
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