Hayleys Group crosses US$ 1 bn turnover

Building on a strong momentum gathered over the final quarter of FY 2017/ 18, Sri Lanka’s leading diversified conglomerate, Hayleys PLC says it ended the year with “a record breaking top- line performance” as revenue expanded by 47 per cent year- on- year ( YoY) to Rs. 163.2 billion in the 12 months ending March 2018.

The group posted strong operating profits which expanded by 18 per cent YoY to Rs.11.4 billion. “However, increased borrowings, combined with the prevalence of higher interest rate conditions throughout the financial year resulted in net finance costs increasing to Rs. 5.93 billion, leading to a reduction in profit before tax (PBT) to Rs. 5.76 billion during the period in review,” it said in a media statement on Monday. This statement was released to the media and the Colombo Stock Exchange.

During the year in review, the Hayleys made numerous bold new investments across the sectors which the diversified conglomerate operates in, with a view to repositioning its subsidiaries to capitalise on new growth opportunities over the medium-long term.

Commenting on the performance of the group over the past year, Hayleys Chairman/ CEO, Mohan Pandithage commended the determined efforts of all of the group’s subsidiaries in achieving the US$1 billion revenue milestone and outlined plans to leverage investments made during the period in review to generate new growth opportunities over the coming financial year.

“The past year bore witness to several bold new investments across Hayleys that are designed to place the group on a stable but aggressive growth trajectory over the medium- long term. Nevertheless, we remain cognizant of the higher finance costs arising from increased investments over the past year. Moving forward the group will move to rapidly reduce gearing and re- align capital structures with a view to bolstering the bottom line,” he said.

Leading segmental performance during the year was the group’s transportation and logistics business which posted substantially improved revenue and operating profits of Rs. 35.7 billion and Rs. 2.95 billion, respectively.

Increased raw material costs hampered profitability within the group’s purification products and hand protection segments both of which posted improved turnover but weaker operating profits. Purification segment recorded a turnover of Rs.15.5 billion with an operating profit of Rs. 1.1 billion while hand protection segment revenue was Rs. 15.9 billion while operating profits reduced to Rs.464 million.

Boosted by the introduction of new revenue from Singer, the group’s consumer products segment also posted impressive growth in turnover, closing the year with revenue of Rs. 35.9 billion while operating profits increased to Rs. 2 billion during the period in review.