Tamim century puts Bangladesh in control over Sri Lanka
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Caught on a sticky wicket, Ranil’s glorious chance to emerge a shining knight
Dialog grows 16% in Q1, forex flips NPAT to negative Rs.15.8Bn
SLID CEO Forum on Redefining Customer Experience in the Digital Age
CSE gains 4 per cent within first hour of trading; turnover hits Rs. 2.7 billion
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Continuing its legacy of excellence, Sri Lanka’s Life Insurance trailblazer Union Assurance has won four renowned global awards. These accolades by the Global Business Magazine recognize the Company’s industry-leading achievements in innovation and digitization. The awards are presented annually to business innovators, market disruptors, and leaders from a range of industries across the world.
The awards won by Union Assurance were Best Digitizing Life Insurance Sri Lanka 2022, Best New Insurance Product Sri Lanka 2022, Most Innovative Education Insurance Plan in Sri Lanka 2022, and Best CSR Insurance Company Sri Lanka 2022.
The Chief Executive Officer of Union Assurance, Jude Gomes said. “With an unwavering focus on offering the best, we surpassed customer expectations through innovation and service excellence. Earning acclaim from a prestigious publication like Global Business Magazine requires a truly visionary outlook. “We have transformed Life Insurance in Sri Lanka through innovative solutions, and have digitized our capabilities to greatly enhance the customer experience,” he said.
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SLT Group demonstrates resilience in delivering value to nation despite challenges
Export earnings from tea and spices drop by 10.4% and 18.3%
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• Q1 22 Revenue and EBITDA record YoY growth of 16% and 8% respectively • YTD Q1 22 NPAT Negative at Rs15.8Bn, impacted by Forex Loss of Rs.20.2Bn. Normalised NPAT Rs.4.3Bn • Total Taxes Paid to GoSL Rs5.9Bn which included Rs2.1Bn in Direct and Rs3.8Bn in Indirect Taxes • Capex Investments of Rs7.5Bn during the Quarter; OFCF reached Rs6.2Bn for Q1 2022
Dialog Axiata PLC announced,Friday 13th May 2022, its consolidated financial results for the three monthsended 31st March 2022. Financial results included those of Dialog Axiata PLC (the “Company”) and of the Dialog Axiata Group (the “Group”). Sri Lanka is engulfed in an economic and political crisis resulting from the impacts of COVID-19, significant tax cuts and large sovereign debt repayments collectively depleting the limited foreign reserves of the country. As a result, the Sri Lankan Rupee (“LKR”) depreciated by 46% against the USD during Q1 2022.
Despite the challenging environment, all business segments, namely, Mobile, Fixed Line, Digital Pay Television, International and Tele-infrastructure businesses positively contributed to record a consolidated Revenue of Rs38.3Bn for Q1 2022, demonstrating a strong growth of 16% Year-on-Year (“YoY”) and 3% Quarter-on-Quarter (“QoQ”). Underpinned by Revenue growth, Group Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortisation (“EBITDA”) grew 8% YoY albeit declining 4% QoQ to record at Rs14.7Bn for Q1 2022. The QoQ decline in EBITDA was driven by higher spend on network and direct costs due to escalation of dollar denominated expenses and increase in energy costs due to power cuts.
The Group Net Profit After Tax (“NPAT”) was negative for Q1 2022 at Rs15.8Bn, impacted by the steep depreciation of the LKR against the United States Dollar (“USD”) by 46% for Q1 2022 versus a depreciation of 7.1% for Q1 2021 and a stable movement in Q4 2021. The forex loss of Rs.20.2Bn recorded by Dialog Group was due to outstanding USD denominated debt obligations and foreign vendor liabilities. The USD debt obligation for the Group totalled USD145Mn by end Q1 2022. Normalised for the said foreign exchanges loss Group NPAT was recorded at Rs4.3Bn for Q1 2022 declining 4% YoY and 11% QoQ.
Public Dialog Group continued to be a significant contributor to state Revenues, remitting a total of Rs5.9Bn to the Government of Sri Lanka (“GoSL”) during Q1 2022. Total remittances included Direct Taxes and Levies amounting to Rs2.1Bn as well as Rs3.8Bn in Consumption Taxes collected on behalf of the GoSL.
The Group remains committed to provide seamless and consistent connectivity to all Sri Lankans during these unprecedented times and accordingly spent Rs7.5Bn in capital expenditure for the quarter ended 31st March 2022, resulting in a Capex to Revenue ratio of 20% for Q1 2022. Capital expenditure was directed towards investments in High-Speed Broadband infrastructure to further expand Dialog’s leadership in Sri Lanka’s Broadband sector. The Group recorded Operating Free Cash Flow (“OFCF”) of Rs6.2Bn for Q1 2022.
The Group balance sheet continued to be low geared, despite new USD borrowings during the quarter, to record the Net Debt to EBITDA ratio at 0.49x by end Q1 2022. The Return on Invested Capital (“ROIC”) remained at healthy levels to recorded at 16.5% for Q1 2022 albeit declining 0.6pp YoY and 1.4pp QoQ In a mission to provide emergency relief to the worst impacted families and communities in the country due to the ongoing economic crisis, Dialog Group joined hands with like-minded corporates and partners including its execution partner Sarvodaya and accountability partner PwC Sri Lanka to launch the
‘Manudam Mehewara’ relief initiative. Emergency relief will be provided to more than 200,000 affected families across all 25 districts and this relief effort will continue for 60 – 90 days, until a sustainable benefit transfer system is established in the country through an effective economic recovery plan At an entity level, Dialog Axiata PLC (the “Company”) continued to contribute a major share of Group Revenue (63%) and Group EBITDA (68%). Company recorded a 10% YoY growth in Revenue to reach
Rs24.0Bn for Q1 2022 amid increased contribution from Data revenue. On a QoQ basis Revenue recorded a growth of 3%. EBITDA for Q1 2022 was recorded at Rs10.1Bn representing a moderate growth of 1% YoY on the back of escalations in Sales & Marketing, Network and Staff costs. On a QoQ basis EBITDA recorded a growth of 4%. The depreciation of the LKR against the USD impacted company NPAT resulting in a loss of Rs15.2Bn as the foreign exchange loss amounted to Rs18.3Bn for Q1 2022. Normalised for same, company NPAT was recorded at Rs3.1Bn for Q1 2022, declining 21% YoY albeit increasing 16% QoQ.
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The Sri Lanka Institute of Directors (SLID) CEO Forum in partnership with Daily FT, ACCA, and CA, organized an online panel discussion to share thoughts and insights on ‘Redefining Customer Experience in the Digital Age’ recently.
The keynote address was delivered by services marketing guru, National University of Singapore MBA Program Vice Dean Prof. Jochen Wirtz. The eminent panel moderated by AIA Insurance Sri Lanka CEO Nikhil Advani, comprised of SriLankan Airlines former CEO and Jet Airways CFO Vipula Gunatilleke, Lion Brewery Ceylon Ltd. Director/CEO Dr. Rajive Meewakkala, BCG Center for Customer Insights Director/Partner Kanika Sanghi, and Bookingwhizz Ltd. UK CEO/Founder Karim Mawani.
Delivering his keynote address, Prof. Wirtz the author of the bestselling books on Amazon in 20-22 titled ‘Services Marketing’ and ‘Intelligent Automation’ said, “We are at an inflection point in our economies. Having passed the Agriculture and Industrial Ages, the economies in the 2020s are moving into an accelerated service revolution with the exciting developments in technologies such as Robotic Process Automation (RPA), biometrics, facial recognition, Natural Language Processing (NLP), Machine Language, the cloud, mobile technologies, and IoT which are all coming together and are getting more powerful,” and added that what can be automated is based on three dimensions which are whether the service is physical or tangible in nature, is the core of the service cognitive/analytical or social/emotional, and how often it happens and its heterogeneity or homogeneity when it happens.
Explaining his company’s automation process moderator Nikhil Advani said, “Last year, having brought in three bots to automate 34 mostly back-office processes handling mundane, repetitive tasks, we have seen 40 hours of work reduced to just a couple and the employees are now happier causing our NTS to go up. These are clear benefits of bringing technology into all businesses.
Responding to the moderator’s question on the acceleration of digital transformation and application of quick fixes during COVID, Vipula Gunatilleke said: “We were compelled to make some quick fixes. While most airlines don’t own any aircraft, what we do own is the data related to 5-10 million customers. Airlines have been reinventing themselves even before the lockdown. Today’s customers are more demanding, and they want personalized service, the best deal. We are working on developing and evolving the quick fixes that we applied during the COVID period.”
“The beer industry, being highly regulated, limits our ability to interact and deploy experiential platforms and transactions with consumers. Amidst these constraints, we developed service delivery approaches where we were able to inform consumers digitally where and how they could buy alcoholic beverages,” said Rajive Meewakkala.
Responding to a question from the moderator, Karim Mawani said, “As a software development company specializing in the hospitality industry, even before COVID we were conducting research on how to digitally transform the industry.
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By Hiran H. Senewiratne
The CSE gained 4 per cent within the first hour of trading yesterday, a day after the new Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe addressed the country on its ongoing economic crisis. Stock market analysts opined that the address impacted the CSE positively.
Buying interest was noted in most counters, especially blue- chip ones. Prime Minister Wickremasinghe has now turned to Japan for a fresh financial relief package amounting to between US$ 3.5 billion and US $5 billion and this development too is perceived by market analysts as buoying the market to a degree.
The main All- Share Price Index gained 3.87 per cent or 313.31 points to reach 8,411.72 as at 11.31 am. The most liquid index S and P SL20 shot up 5.27 per cent to 140.31 points to reach 2,802.62. Later it settled at the 157.2 level.
Market turnover stood at Rs 2.7 billion with a single crossing. The crossing was reported in HNB, which crossed 897,000 shares to the tune of Rs 2.7 billion, its shares traded at Rs 82.50.
Expolanka Holdings, JKH and LOLC were the main contributors to the index. In the retail market, top seven companies that mainly contributed to the turnover were; Expolanka Rs 851 million (3.9 million shares traded), Browns Investments Rs 365 million (47.7 million shares traded), LOLC Finance Rs 230 million (24.9 million shares traded), Softlogic Life Insurance Rs 127.5 million (1.9 million shares traded), Softlogic Capital Rs 107 million (13.7 million shares traded), LOLC Holdings Rs 78.1 million (142,000 shares traded) and Royal Ceramic Rs 53 million (1.5 million shares traded). During the day 177 million share volumes changed hands in 30,000 share transactions.
Yesterday, commercial banks quoted the US dollar at Rs 365 against telegraphic transfers, while the Central Bank set a daily guidance rate for interbank spot trade for Rs. 359.75, plus or minus 2.50.
Banks could quote Rs 2.50 plus or minus under the new direction and the rate is set below the market rates. The Central Bank stopped quoting day rates on January 23 when the rupee was floated with an interest rate correction after the soft peg collapsed. In 2021 the Central Bank started enforcing a rate incompatible with the policy rate at around 203 to the US dollar.
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