COLOMBO: Profits at Distilleries Corporation of Sri Lanka, which has interests in alcohol, farming, telecom and insurance rose 50 percent to Rs1.18 billion in the September 2016 quarter from a year earlier, interim accounts showed, as new taxes were slapped in a budget for 2017.
The group reported earnings of Rs7.20 per share for the quarter. For the six months to September, the firm reported earnings of Rs13.70 per share on total profits of Rs4.1 billion, which were up 38 percent.
Quarter over quarter profits of the group can be volatile. During the quarter, revenues at the core alcohol company, rose 43 percent to Rs23.6 billion with excise taxes, while net revenues rose 37.4 percent to Rs68 billion.
From November 01, value-added tax was imposed on alcohol and in the budget for 2017 another tax was slapped on ethanol imports. An evaporation allowance was also cut. The group said in the six months to September out of a total of Rs5.6 billion in profits Rs5.9 billion came from beverages, Rs154 million from financial services, Rs209 million from diversified.
Tea plantations lost Rs67 million (down from Rs177 million a year earlier) and telecoms dropped Rs553 million, up from Rs278 million.
