Indices loses ground
The market on Tuesday was weighed down by large cap Dialog Telekom
while Kelani Valley plantations reported remarkable earnings bucking the
trend of lower profitability in the plantation sector due to rising
costs of production.
Kelani Valley, which is a subsidiary of Dipped Products and a
Hayley's group company, posted Rs 825 million in revenue for the quarter
ended 31st March 2008.
Sole listed power producer, Vallibel Power Erathne reported strong
earnings both due to increased operations and capital gains form the
sale of a subsidiary Didul (Pvt) Ltd. VPEL realized Rs 185 million from
the sale, while it boosted revenue from operations by 33% to Rs 303
million for the 12 months ending March 2008 from Rs 226 million it made
for the financial year ending March 2007.
The company made a net profit attributable to shareholders after tax
of Rs 377 million, up 146% from the Rs 152 million it made in the
previous years.
The indices lost ground due to Dialog, which hit a low of Rs 15.00 a
share, down 25 cents, dragging the market down with it.
The broader market index, ASPI, lost 18 points (-0.68%) to close at
2613 while the MPI which tracks the most liquid stocks moved down by 24
points (-0.74%) to end the day at 3179.
Turnover, which totaled Rs 163 million, was mainly Cargills Ceylon (Rs.
23.2 million), Central Finance (Rs 18.9 million) Ceylon Theatres (Rs.
13.6 Million), Tokyo Cement (NV) (Rs. 8.2 Million) and Brown & Co (Rs
7.4 Million).
Source: First Guardian Equities
www.firstguardianequities.com
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