The Hayleys group’s coconut shell-based activated carbon manufacturer, Haycarb PLC saw a surge in earnings during the June quarter (1Q20) amid healthy demand for the firm’s value-added activated carbon products. 

Haycarb’s earnings for the quarter under review rose 165 percent year-on-year (YoY) to Rs.267.7 million, the interim accounts released to the Colombo Stock Exchange showed. The earnings per share improved to Rs.9.01 per share, from Rs.3.40 per share a year ago.

“The strong demand in the activated carbon market and the growth in the value-added carbon portfolio resulted in a noteworthy growth in turnover and profitability,”

Haycarb PLC Managing Director Rajitha Kariyawasan said.

Haycarb’s revenue for the quarter rose 24 percent YoY to Rs.5.3 billion, while cost of sales rose 20 percent YoY to Rs.4.2 billion, resulting in a gross profit of Rs.1.1 billion, up 34 percent. Kariyawasan said the availability of its raw material, coconut charcoal, in Indonesia and Sri Lanka continued to be stable during the first quarter. 

However, he noted that the effect of shortages and high cost of raw material impacted the Thailand operations negatively. 

On a separate note, he said that the growth in Haycarb’s environmental engineering arm, Puritas (Pvt.) Ltd has consolidated its position as a superior provider of water and waste water purification solutions in Sri Lanka and in the region. Haycarb is the pioneer manufacturer of coconut shell activated carbon in any coconut producing country with manufacturing facilities in Sri Lanka, Thailand and Indonesia, supported by marketing offices in the USA, UK and Australia. 

The company contributes net foreign exchange revenues with its value-adding processes and is a leading and technologically superior manufacturer in its chosen segment. 

As at June 30, 2019, Hayleys PLC held a 67.73 percent stake in Haycarb while the state-controlled private sector pension fund, the Employees’ Provident Fund, held a 4.77 percent stake, being the second largest shareholder.