Sinhaputhra Finance records Rs. 51.8 m profit after tax

THE Sinhaputhra Finance Company has recorded a strong financial performance during 2004/2005 which is the highest ever pre and post tax profit of the company.

Sinhaputhra made a profit on ordinary activities before tax of Rs 53.4 million, a rise of Rs 16.8 million or 45.9 per cent over 2003/2004. There was good growth in profit before tax across all our business divisions.

Profit after tax at Rs 51.8 million was up 53.5 per cent. This increase was broadly based and was a key driver of the company's strong performance.

The company made a specific provision for bad doubtful debt amounting to Rs 44.1 million for the year which is an excess of the statutory requirement. The recoveries made out of specific provision made earlier, amounted to Rs 14.1 million.

The Directors transferred a sum of Rs 5.7 million to the statutory reserve fund and further sum of Rs 25.0 million to the General Reserve. A sum of Rs 14.1 million is carried forward to the new financial year.

"Our mission remains consistent and aim is to be a leading financial institution in the financial services sector. We will strive to secure and maintain a leading position within each of our customer groups in selected markets.

Sinhaputhra will concentrate on growth of earnings over the long term at a rate which will place it favourable when compared with its competitors.

We will also focus on investing in our IT infrastructure extensively to provide value added services to our customers.

We remain committed to benchmark our performance with our competitors to keep us on the right course," Chairman Kithsiri Wanigasekera said in his Annual Report.

The outlook for 2005/2006 promises to be good as a result of balance sheet growth and investment made in 2004/2005.We are targeting to enhance income growth to a considerable extent and will be investing heavily in the development of business.

The improvement of asset quality and the effective management of risks will ensure a much more stable entity in the years ahead. We are confident that we can move forward with a greater momentum in all fronts in the year 2005/2006.