COLOMBO: Profits at Melstacorp, the holding company of Sri Lanka’s largest hard alcohol maker Distilleries Corporation, fell 41 percent to 1.1 billion rupees from a year ago in the June quarter, interim accounts showed. The diversified group, which has interests in beverages, plantations, telecommunications and financial services, has reported basic earnings of 98 cents per share for the quarter compared to 1.65 cents per share posted a year ago.
Net revenues grew 10 percent to 10.3 billion rupees in the quarter from a year earlier, while sales costs rose at a faster 37.7 percent to 7.5 billion rupees with gross profits up 29.6 percent to 2.7 billion rupees. Finance income rose 283 percent to 389 million rupees while finance costs rose 81 percent to 429 million rupees. In segmental analysis, profits in the beverages segment fell 54 percent to 1.3 billion rupees in the quarter from a year ago. Profits at diversified segment rose 180 percent to 406 million rupees in the quarter. Melstacorp invested 20 billion rupees in equity of Distilleries Corporation with effect from January 2017 and Distilleries Corporation used these funds to settle their liabilities against Melstacorp.
