Hayleys posts Rs. 31b turnover

Hayleys PLC has reported healthy turnover growth and encouraging improvements in pre and post tax profit from continuing operations in 2007-08, described by the multinational blue chip as a year of hard decisions and one in which it witnessed the most inimical macroeconomic conditions in memory.

In results released to the Colombo Stock Exchange this week, the manufacturing and agriculture weighted conglomerate whose mix of businesses makes it a barometer of the country’s economic performance, has reported that turnover grew 17 per cent to Rs. 31b in the year ending March 31, following strong performances in difficult circumstances by its businesses in manufacturing, transportation and plantations.

Profit before tax and discontinued operations in the year under review grew 10 per cent to Rs 1,985m and profit after tax from continuing operations at Rs 1,520m was an improvement of 11 per cent over the previous year, the Group said.

Measures initiated in the final quarter of the previous year to restructure the Group’s Consumer Durables business had an impact of Rs. 384m during the year. As a result, final profit for the period was Rs. 1,090m marginally higher than in the previous year.

Of this, profit attributable to equity holders of the Company was Rs. 453m 15 per cent lower than the previous year’s Rs. 534m. Nevertheless, this represented a strong recovery from the poor results at the start of the year and is more than a two fold increase over the Group’s performance in the first nine months of the year.

Commenting on these results, Hayleys Group Chairman N. G. Wickremeratne pointed out that if not for the provisions for discontinued operations, profit attributable to equity holders of the Company would have been Rs. 865m.

“The other critical factor was the impact on the Group’s business of the most inimical macroeconomic conditions in memory which affected the manufacturing businesses of the Group and local value-adding industry with a deadly combination of high inflation, high interest rates and an appreciating exchange rate,” Wickremeratne said.