Orient Financial marks good debut on CSE

Orient Financial Services Corporation Ltd. (OFSCL) last week marked a good debut on the Colombo Stock Exchange in terms of price appreciation for its shares though trading was limited.

The OFSCL share with a reference price of Rs. 14 began trading on Thursday at Rs. 15 and touched a high of Rs. 30 before closing at Rs. 17.20, up by Rs. 3.20 or 23%.

On the maiden day, 15,895 shares traded. On Friday a mere 414 shares traded between a high of Rs. 19.40 and a low of Rs. 18.90, before closing at latter level, up by Rs. 1.70. In comparison to the debut price, the closing was up by Rs. 4.90 or 35%.

Analysts viewed it as a creditable performance in comparison to some of the recent debutants also from the financial services industry.

OFSCL entered the Bourse as the 283rd listed firm via an introduction to the Diri Savi Board.

Out of the 115,625,000 Ordinary Voting Shares to be listed on the CSE 59,999,995 shares (52% of the total Shares) were made available for trading from the first day. The balance 55,625,005 shares will be available for trading from 20 June 2012.

OFSCL is licensed by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka under the Finance Leasing Act No.56 of 2000 as a Leasing establishment.

In 2011 the company posted its best performance since its inception, achieving Rs. 82.8 million profit after tax for the year ended 31 March 2011 compared to the previous year’s profit of Rs. 40.7 million. Return on equity stood at 24.18% on par with the industry average and return on total assets also recorded 6.2% as against the 2.71% in the previous year. Earnings per share (EPS) for the year was Rs. 3.45, which is a 102.9% increase over the previous year.

The Board of Directors comprise of Dr. Dayanath Jayasuriya PC (Chairman), Prakash Schaffter, Ramesh Schaffter, Travis Waas, Ananda Atukorala, Mrs. Lakshmi Gunetilleke, Anil Tittawela PC and Sarath Wickramanayake.

The company expects to expand customer reach points through service points and fully fledged branches in order to provide convenient access for potential and existing customers. OFSCL also intends to expand the  portfolio of the company to mid size corporate customers enabling the company to further increase its market share in the low risk category, thus maintaining the quality of its credit portfolio.

OFSCL will focus on enhancing its lending portfolio under prudential norms in the coming years, mainly through geographical penetration and catering to niche markets.

The company has proven its ability to remain steady throughout and perform well even during challenging macro conditions. As a part of its expansion program OFSL opened window offices in Vavuniya, Kegalle and Anuradhapura in 2012.

“Taking into consideration the company’s future plans, its business development strategies and its existing strong presence in the market backed by an experienced board to give direction and a dynamic management team with a wealth of experience, OFSCL is poised for a paradigm shift in its business and is confident of sustained growth in revenue and profits,” the company said in a statement ahead of its trading on the CSE.