L. B. Finance makes profits of Rs. 179m for 2006

L. B. Finance Limited has made a profit Rs. 179 million for the financial year ended March 2007, Chairman of the Company Bertram Amarasekera said in his annual report.

Our gross income has risen by 43 per cent. Interest Income has risen by 44 per cent, other operating income has risen by 118%.

Another positive factor is that the provision for fall in value of investments, bad and doubtful loans and write offs have dropped from Rs. 50 million to Rs. 28 million. All these factors indicate that your company is in good hands.

This trend in 2006/07 saw the transformation of L B Finance from an efficiently-run, profitable medium-sized finance company into a leading player in Sri Lanka’s secondary-finance market.

This is a highly creditable achievement,especially given the increasingly adverse economic circumstances under which it was effected. I do not wish to go into detail about this, describing the obstacles we faced and how they were overcome through hard work, innovative thinking, visionary management and sound governance.

The monetary policy review for August 2007 has been released and despite the rising fuel, oil prices, decline in the rupee against world currencies and the inflation rising to nearly 17% to 18%, the Central Bank Authorities have reported that they are closely monitoring the macro economy to be as friendly as possible for business activities.

The company is in the process of registering the Company as per Companies Act No. 7 of 2007 and upon completion will by operation of law be renamed L B Finance PLC.

The company has also invested in a sizeable real estate in a strategic location for trading purposes and considering the past experiences we have had in real estate stocks, grappling with Government regulations over the Rajagiriya land it is hoped that we will endeavour to realise a quick profit by the sale of the real estate, thus mitigating the negatives arising from escalating holding cost.