Aitken Spence suffers drop in revenue, pre-tax profit in 1Q

Blue chip conglomerate Aitken Spence PLC has reported a drop of 29.3% pre-tax profit from Rs. 678 million to Rs. 480 million, over the previous year.

The company’s financial results for the three months ended 30 June reported the revenue for the first quarter decreasing by 9.2% from Rs. 11.6 billion to Rs. 10.6 billion. The Group’s earnings per share for the quarter stood at Rs. 0.52, whilst profit attributable to shareholders of the parent was reported as Rs. 210 million. 

Despite the impact of the exchange rates and increase in costs, revenue from the tourism sector remained strong as in the previous yearrising by 4.7% to Rs. 4.9 billion. The revenue increased across Sri Lanka, the Maldives and India markets while Oman reported a reduction.

However, the tourism sector reported a loss of Rs. 262 million for the quarter, which is an increase from Rs. 150 million over the previous year. Lower occupancies in the Maldivian resorts and a lack of significant improvement in occupancy levels in Sri Lankan hotels contributed towards the losses.India performance improved, with better occupancy and banquet sales at Turyaa Chennai. Performance from Aitken Spence Travels during the quarter remained steady over the corresponding period last year. 

Maritime and logistics and services sectors recorded increments. The maritime and logistics sector revenue increased by 12% from Rs.1.9 billion to Rs.2.2 billion, driven by an improved contribution from the freight, courier and shipping agency businesses. The quarterly profit-before-tax of the maritime and logistics sector increased by 17.4% to Rs. 436 million, over the previous year. 

The first quarter services sector revenue increased by 32% from Rs.387 million to Rs. 513 million, while profit-before-tax rose by 1.8% to Rs. 82 million over the previous year, driven mainly by property and elevators segments.

Major expenses were incurred on the construction of Heritance Aarah resort, in the Maldives and the 10MW waste-to-energy power plant in north of Colombo.

The construction of Heritance Aarah is expected to open in the Maldivesby the end of 2018. Heritance Aarahwill be the first resort outside Sri Lanka to be branded as ‘Heritance’, introducing a premium all-inclusive offering with elegantly designed villas. 

The landmark waste-to-energy project is expected help solve both the waste disposal and energy supply challenges in the country at present. The project would be equipped to convert municipal solid waste to electricity, aimed at greatly relieving the Colombo City of its waste disposal burden. 

Listed in the Colombo Stock Exchange since 1983 and marking its 150th year milestone in 2018, Aitken Spence is a blue-chip conglomerate with a strong regional presence in the hotels, travels, maritime services, logistic solutions, plantations, power generation, financial outsourcing, insurance, IT, printing and apparel sectors. 

Aitken Spence is the reigning winner of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce Best Corporate Citizen Sustainability award while being the only company in Sri Lanka to be ranked as a ‘Best Corporate Citizen’ by Sri Lanka’s leading chamber for 12 consecutive years.