Mangala says 49, 000 new tax files opened in April
voluntarily to pay their due taxes,” he added.
Meanwhile, Minister Samaraweera vowed to increase expenditure on education and health to 6 percent of GDP by 2025 and 3.5 percent of GDP over the next couple of years.
He pointed out that Yahapalana government has been steadily increasing expenditure on education, health and housing since it came into power in 2015.
Tourism and power generation segments boosted Aitken Spence PLC’S profits while the group’s key maritime and logistics sector remained steady as the diversified conglomerate reported a significantly better financial performance for the period ended March, 2018.
Aitken Spence reported Rs.16.6 billion in revenues for the January – March quarter (4Q18), up from Rs.15.4 billion in the corresponding period, last year, while the net profits jumped 47 percent year-on-year (YOY) to Rs.1.8 billion from Rs.1.2 billion a year earlier.
The group reported earnings per share of Rs.4.46 compared to Rs.3.03 a year earlier.
Aitken Spence share ended at Rs.50.50, 10 cents or 0.20 percent up during yesterday’s trading. Meanwhile, for the year ended March 31, 2018, the group reported earnings of Rs.8.77 on a total profit of Rs.3.6 billion compared to Rs.7.12 a share or Rs.2.9 billion in total earnings in the previous year.