Laugfs surpasses profit forecasts

13 January 2011 04:14 am Views - 6295

Laugfs group has posted Rs.750 million Profit After Tax (PAT) for the nine months ended December 31, a 96 percent increase from a year ago, surpassing profit forecasts for the period, group Chairman W.K.H Wegapitiya said in a statement yesterday.

The group has posted a Rs 5.32 billion revenue for the period under consideration, a 32 percent increase over the last years performance. 

Laugfs Gas Limited, the key revenue contributing company in the group, posted a revenue of Rs. 4.87 billion for the period whilst earning a PAT of Rs. 638.27 million which is 61% increase over the same period last year and 28 percent increase against the forecasts made by the company.

The finance cost of the group has also reduced by 25% during the nine months period considered.
The revenue of Laugfs Eco Sri (Pvt) Ltd also increased during the period to Rs. 405.3 million from the previous year, an improvement of 118%. The PAT for the period was Rs. 118.65 million and it was a loss of Rs. 12.77 million for the corresponding period last year.

According to Laugfs Chairman the utilization of part of the IPO proceeding for the settlement of bank facilities previously obtained by the company had made the company virtually debt free and it  will have significant impact on the bottom lines of the company in the ensuing months with the reduction of financial cost to be incurred in a substantial manner.

"The financial position of the group appears to be very strong with a total asset base of Rs.8.6 billion as against Rs.4.5 billion recoded at the same date last year" Wegapitiya noted.

The Net Asset Value of the group also has increased to Rs.6.1 billion as at 31 December 2010 and this was at the level of Rs.1.5 billion at the corresponding date last year.

The group's current assets now stand 1.8 times over its current liabilities.
Commenting on the performance of the Laugfs shsres, Wegapitiya noted that the diluted Earnings Per Share as at end of 31 December 2010 stands at 2.82 against 1.45 recorded for the same period last year.

The company is scheduled to commence construction of 100 roomed hotel in Chillaw shortly with the utilization of the proceeds of the IPO since all the preliminaries required had already been completed.
In the meantime under the development of land base LP Gas storage capacity at Mabima complex is progressing and another 250mt capacity storage tank had been completed. The construction of the next storage tank of a similar capacity just commenced recently.

"The Laugfs Gas Limited and its subsidiaries are very confident of posting far better results at the end of the current financial year with innovative products being introduced into the market similar to groundbreaking initiative to introduce "Metal Cutting Gas" into the market" Wegapitiya said.