Asiri Central to extend lease with Sri Lanka Army
The director board of Asiri Central Hospitals PLC (ASHA), which was previously known as Asha Central, has decided to extend its lease agreement with the Sri Lanka Army (SLA).
With t he company changing its course from hospital services provider to an investment firm April last year, it took a strategic decision to lease out the land and building of ASHA to the SLA for a period of one year.
“The status quo of the company’s arrangement with the Sri Lanka Army continues satisfactorily and in fact your company has decided to extend the lease for another year in response to a request from the Sri Lanka Army,” ASHA Chairman Ashok Pathirage told shareholders during the firm’s 20th Annual General Meeting.
“Since the owner occupied land buildings have been leased out and an extension of the lease period is being negotiated for a further one year, the owner occupied land and building have been classified as investment property. The company continues to be governed by the highest standards of corporate governance in line with the governance framework that the Asiri group is reputed for,” he added.
Meanwhile, according to Pathirage, ASHA’s associate company ‘The Central’ is making ‘rapid strides towards profitability’.
“I am pleased to report that the new hospital has become a success from the outset and is expected to achieve profitability in its mere third year of operation in the 2012/13 financial year,” he noted.
With the change in the company’s core business as an investment property, the company made an operating profit of Rs.261.3 million during the 2011/12 financial year. Further, the company made a net profit after tax of Rs.110.6 million as opposed to a net loss after tax of Rs.176.5 million in 2010/11.
The main contributory factors towards the improved financial performance during the period was the Rs.205 million net gain arose from the fair value adjustment to the investment property and the lease rental received.