COLOMBO: The factory of Sri Lanka’s Lion Beer, which was repaired after flood damage, has started operating and production is being gradually ramped up, Chief Executive Suresh Shah said.
Ceylon Beverage Holdings Plc, the owning company, said it lost Rs515 million after tax in the quarter to September 2016, down from a profit of Rss689 million a year earlier, interim accounts filed with the Colombo Stock Exchange showed.
In the six months to September, it lost Rs1.2 billion after tax, down from a profit of Rs2.0 billion. The firm said it will submit insurance claims and the factory was repaired with bank finance.
Lion Beer said it had been selling imported beer, where the state gave it an opportunity to pay the same taxes as it did for domestic production to maintain some of its market share. The firm sells Lion Beer, its own brand, and license produces Carlsberg. With domestic production starting, beer in glass bottles will come back to the market.
Ceylon Beverage Holdings said over the past two years tax on beer was raised 70 percent and hard spirits 25 percent, leading to a 39 percent fall in beer sales and a 9 percent rise in spirits.
Ceylon Beverage Holdings said small-time ‘toddy’ production has gone up, although accurate data is not given to excise authorities.
