No free lunch for Galadari shareholders

There will be no free lunch for Galadari Hotel shareholders this year with the owning company announcing the discontinuance of complimentary meal vouchers to shareholders with effect from this year.

Shareholders found a notice to this effect with their copy of the annual report of Galadari Hotels (Lanka) PLC covering the year ended December 31, 2013.

Both the Galadari and Taj Lanka that had been unable to pay any dividends to shareholders since their founding several decades ago had been compensating shareholders with a complimentary lunch once a year. This practice has now been discontinued by the Galadari.
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Debts to Galadari Brothers and GOSL fully repaid

Galadari Hotels (Lanka) PLC has reported what its chairman called a "remarkable turnaround’’ during the year ended December 31, 2013 with an after-tax profit of Rs.286 million against a loss of Rs.861 million posted the previous year.
"The main contribution to this performance came from the restructuring of the company’s balance sheet, which resulted in the conversion of the Rs.7.2 billion loan of Galadari Brothers Co. LLC into equity," the company’s Chairman Mr. Khaled Aly Soliman has said in the annual report.

"Another noteworthy achievement in 2013 was the repayment of Rs.263.6 million to the Treasury as part settlement of the long outstanding loan to the Government of Sri Lanka."

He said that the remaining amount of Rs.263.6 million had been repaid this year.

"With the financial strength of a healthier balance sheet, Galadari Hotels (Lanka) PLC is well poised to realise its potential, in line with the government’s vision for Sri Lanka and the significant role that the tourism sector is expected to play in the country’s economic growth," Soliman said.

Despite the hotel now being profitable, it carried accumulated losses of Rs.9.36 billion in its balance sheet as at December 31, 2013, down from Rs.9.58 billion a year earlier.

The owning company has a stated capital of nearly Rs.9 billion and a revaluation reserve of Rs.8.7 billion in its books. Total current assets ran at Rs.10.38 billion and total liabilities at Rs.1.88 billion.

The company issued nearly 318.4 million new shares to Galadari Brothers Company LLC of the United Arab Emirates at the rate of Rs.22.50 per share and liquidated its debt to that company. In January this year it also settled a further Rs.71 million balance due to Galadari Brothers.

The report reveals that the loan from the Government of Sri Lanka of Rs.263.7 million has been rescheduled during the year with the accrued interest waived. The company has fully settled the Government loan on March 20, 2014.

Galadari Brothers with 63.57% of the company is the dominant shareholder with Iceberg 2 Limited following with 5.89%. The EPF holds 4.73% and several members of the Galadari family, in their individual capacities, are also among the top 20 shareholders.

The Galadari share traded at a high of Rs.15 and a low of Rs.9.10 in 2013 closing at Rs.11.30. This compared with a trading range of Rs.30.50 to Rs.10.40 closing at Rs.14.20 the previous year.

The company’s net assets per share had grown to Rs.16.97 during the year under review from Rs.4.25 the previous year.

The directors of the company are: Messrs. Khaled Aly Soliman (Chairman) S.M.H. Ahmed Khoory, L. R. de Silva, Dr. J.A.S. Felix, M.H.A.W. Al Garf, Amit Chib and H.A. Mohamed.
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