Hayleys 9-month turnover Rs 21.8b

Hayleys PLC, has reported a turnover of Rs 21.8 billion and profit after tax of Rs 684 million for the nine months ending December 31, 2007, following a third quarter of mixed results.

Results released to the Colombo Stock Exchange reveal that although Group turnover for the period reflected a 13 per cent growth over the corresponding nine months of the previous year, external factors such as higher costs of production and finance, exchange losses and costs associated with the phased exit from the Consumer Durables (Electronics) business have combined to push profits down.

Consequently, profit before tax and losses of Consumer Durables at the end of the third quarter was down 5 per cent, while profit after tax and losses from Consumer Durables, at Rs 684 million, reflected a decline of 28 per cent over the first nine months of 2006-07.

As a result, profit attributable to equity holders of the company was down 57 per cent to Rs 219 million.

Hayleys Chairman N. G. Wickremeratne said: “The Group’s performance remained under pressure in the third quarter.

The Group continued to bear the heavy cost of restructuring the Consumer Products sector consequent to the decision to exit the Consumer Durables (Electronics) business. With negotiations to transfer this activity to Singer progressing, it has been separately classified in the financial statements as a discontinued business; the impact of its performance on the Group’s results is thus clearly evident.”

Elaborating on the performance of major industry segments of the Group, Wickremeratne said global markets and manufacturing had continued to perform strongly, although Hand Protection’s performance was strained due to the significant losses generated by DPL Thailand, and by substantially higher costs in local manufacturing.