ECONOMYNEXT- Ceylon Tobacco Company Plc, the Sri Lankan unit of British American Tobacco, said that its net profits for the June quarter grew 7.5 percent from a year earlier to 4.7 billion rupees amid favourable weather and cost cutting to manage lower sales from an excise duty hike.
Earnings per share for the quarter were 25 rupees. For the 6 months to June, earnings per share were 46.68 rupees. The CTC share closed trading at 1,298.80 rupees on Thursday.
The firm's net revenue for the June quarter fell 6.8 percent to 36.2 billion rupees, while government levies on sales fell 8.6 percent to 27.6 billion rupees, leading to net revenue falling 10.3 percent to 8.6 billion rupees.
CTC, in a earnings statement, said that sales volumes fell due to excise duties on cigarettes being raised in quick succession in August 2018 and March 2019, and low consumer sentiment following the Easter Sunday attack.
Sales volumes of cigarette sticks had fallen 21.5 percent from a year earlier in the June quarter, the firm said.
Raw material costs fell 42 percent to 389 million rupees.
The firm said that with favourable weather, it has sourced more local leaf during the quarter, compared to high importation of tobacco leaf over the past two years due to poor weather.
Sri Lanka had experienced one of the worst droughts of the last 4 decades in 2017 and 2018, which had hit crop growing.
Other operating costs in June fell 31.4 percent to 589 million rupees amidst the firm's continuing efforts to cut costs to maintain profitability.
CTC warned that the growth in low-taxed and illegally smuggled cigarettes are a threat to the firm's sales and profitability.
Sri Lanka’s consumption of smuggled illegal cigarettes is estimated to exceed 500 million sticks annually, the company said.
This situation is expected to escalate as the price gap between the legal and illegal product widens, resulting from constant price hikes targeting the legal product, CTC said. (Colombo/09 Aug/2019)
» CCS.N0000 ( Ceylon Cold Stores)
» Sri Lanka plans to allow tourists from August, no mandatory quarantine
» When Will It Be Safe To Invest In The Stock Market Again?
» Dividend Announcements
» MAINTENANCE NOTICE / නඩත්තු දැනුම්දීම
» ඩොලර් මිලියනයක මුදල් සම්මානයක් සහ “ෆීල්ඩ්ස් පදක්කම” පිළිගැනීම ප්රතික්ෂේප කළ ගණිතඥයා
» SEYB.N0000 (Seylan Bank PLC)
» Here's what blind prophet Baba Vanga predicted for 2016 and beyond: It's not good
» The Korean Way !
» In the Meantime Within Our Shores!
» What is Known as Dementia?
» SRI LANKA TELECOM PLC (SLTL.N0000)
» THE LANKA HOSPITALS CORPORATION PLC (LHCL.N0000)
» Equinox ( වසන්ත විෂුවය ) !
» COMB.N0000 (Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC)
» REXP.N0000 (Richard Pieris Exports PLC)
» RICH.N0000 (Richard Pieris and Company PLC)
» Do You Have Computer Vision Syndrome?
» LAXAPANA BATTERIES PLC (LITE.N0000)
» What a Bank Run ?
» 104 Technical trading experiments by HUNTER
» GLAS.N0000 (Piramal Glass Ceylon PLC)
» Cboe Volatility Index
» AHPL.N0000
» TJL.N0000 (Tee Jey Lanka PLC.)
» CTBL.N0000 ( CEYLON TEA BROKERS PLC)
» COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT COMPANY PLC (COMD. N.0000))
» Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency
» CSD.N0000 (Seylan Developments PLC)
» PLC.N0000 (People's Leasing and Finance PLC)
» Bakery Products ?
» NTB.N0000 (Nations Trust Bank PLC)
» Going South
» When Seagulls Follow the Trawler
» Re-activating
» අපි තමයි හොඳටම කරේ !
» මේ අර් බුධය කිසිසේත්ම මා විසින් නිර්මාණය කල එකක් නොවේ
» SAMP.N0000 (Sampath Bank PLC)
» APLA.N0000 (ACL Plastics PLC)
» AVOID FALLING INTO ALLURING WEEKEND FAMILY PACKAGES.
» Banks, Finance & Insurance Sector Chart
» VPEL.N0000 (Vallibel Power Erathna PLC)
» DEADLY COCKTAIL OF ISLAND MENTALITY AND PARANOID PERSONALITY DISORDER MIX.
» WATA - Watawala
» KFP.N0000(Keels Food Products PLC)
» Capital Trust Broker in difficulty?
» IS PIRATING INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY A BOON OR BANE?
» What Industry Would You Choose to Focus?
» Should I Stick Around, or Should I Follow Others' Lead?