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| Thursday, 22 July 2004 |
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Ceylon Leather Products export turnover up 94% to Rs. 167m Ceylon Leather Products Limited (CLPL) recorded an after tax profit of Rs. 11.9 million for the year ended March 2004. The group turnover was Rs. 524.4 million recording a 27.6 percent increase over the previous year. The export turnover has also recorded Rs. 167 million for the year-ended March 2004, showing growth of 94 percent over the previous year. CLPL Chairman S.A.B.B. Nimal Samarakkody said the Board of Directors have recommended a dividend of 6.5 percent to shareholders on the ordinary share capital. There are 1,777 shareholders in the company and workers too hold shares. "This is the first year after the company was listed on the Main Board of the Colombo Stock Exchange. It is encouraging to note that "Ceylon Leather" is among the most heavily transacted shares on the trading floor," Samarakkody said. "The company incurred a capital expenditure of Rs. 13.7 million during the year while the issued capital of the company which stood at Rs. 100, 000,000, increased to Rs. 125,000,000 in year ended March 2004. The total assets were Rs. 517,566,176 in 2004 while it was Rs. 429,103,888 in 2003," Samarakkody said. He said the company manufactures leather, leather footwear and leather products. The operating profit declined because of up-dating technical know-how and its transfer to the new manufacturing facility. "We moved our strategic focus to find new export markets. The European shoe market is complex and highly competitive. Products should match quality standards while designs change according to the season. Our predicament is the technical capability to produce high quality shoes for sophisticated markets. Therefore the company is concerned to consolidate trade links with buyers in Japan, Netherlands and India," he said. "Notwithstanding these efforts to develop new export lines, we realise that our base should be the domestic retail market. The management's attention is on a new business plan taking into account current market realities. We will adopt a structured approach to re-design a brand image. Our greatest challenge is to set up our strategic position as the biggest domestic manufacturer of leather. We made tactical acquisitions in two leather-based companies such as Tanlanka Ltd and Nedlanka Ceylon Ltd to facilitate a complete re-structuring of the group. We will proceed on a plan to integrate operations after we set up the Bata-Atha project," he said.(IR) |
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