Dipped Products posts Rs 616 m pre-tax profit in 2008-09

Dipped Products PLC (DPL) ended 2008-09, a year it describes as 'highly uncertain' in terms of the business environment that prevailed, with a profit performance that matched that of the previous financial year, a result the company says is satisfactory in the context of the conditions under which it was achieved.

In results released to the Colombo Stock Exchange this week, the Hayleys Group's multinational rubber gloves business, its subsidiaries and associates have reported consolidated Group profit before tax of Rs 616 million, the same figure recorded for 2007-08, on a Group turnover of Rs 11.9 billion, an improvement of 7 percent.

A strong final quarter enabled the Group, which also has a significant interest in plantations, to generate a profit of Rs 302 million from local manufacturing operations, a growth of 14 percent.

"The turnaround of Dipped Products (Thailand) Limited stands out as the most noteworthy development of the year.

Though the company ended the period under review with a net loss, its performance particularly since August 2008 has been encouraging. The operations reached breakeven point in the last quarter of the year and have now completed the first quarter of the current year as at end March 2009 with a significant net profit," DPL Managing Director J. A. G. Anandarajah said.