Hotel Developers (Lanka) PLC, the owners of the Hilton Hotel Colombo, saw its net profit for the year ended March 31, 2015 at Rs.243 million, up from Rs.191.7 million in the previous year.

The earnings per share improved to 12 cents from 11 cents.

Despite a drop in revenue at the top line level, the company was able to cut down its administrative expenses significantly to Rs.1.47 billion from Rs.1.51 billion, resulting in a pre-tax profit of Rs.286 million, up from Rs.253 million.

However, for the final quarter (4Q15), the company reported a net loss of Rs.22.7 million against a net profit of Rs.71.3 million in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

According to the balance sheet, the company’s accumulated losses came down to Rs.7 billion from Rs.7.3 billion. Hotel Developers said it began a major refurbishment of Hilton Colombo from 2014 amounting to US $ 35 million.

The company said US $ 27 million of the refurbishment budget will be financed by a dollar loan and the rest from internally generated funds.

Hotel Developers was one of the companies acquired by the government through an Expropriation Act passed in Parliament a few years back. As a result, Secretary to the Treasury owns 100 percent of the company.