Singer Sri Lanka to merge with subsidiaries

Singer Sri Lanka PLC, the holding company engaged in retailing and wholesale marketing home appliances and furniture, would merge with two of its subsidiary companies, a filing to the Colombo Stock 
Exchange revealed.
Hayleys PLC, the parent company, this week disclosed that the shareholders of Singer PLC and its two subsidiaries approved the resolution for the merger to take place. The approval was given at an Extraordinary General Meeting held on Thursday (18).
Accordingly, Singer PLC will merge with Singer Industries (Ceylon) PLC and Regnis (Lanka) PLC.

In November 2023, Fitch Ratings downgraded Singer PLC’s National Long-Term Rating to ‘A(lka)’, from ‘A+(lka)’. The Outlook is Stable.
The downgrade reflects the sustained deterioration in Singer’s financial profile such that Fitch-forecasted the EBITDAR fixed-charge cover would fall to 0.7x in the financial year ending on March 31, 2024 (FY24), compared with 1.1x in FY23.
The rating agency said the Stable Outlook reflects Singer’s adequate liquidity supported by its access to domestic banks and its expectations that the company’s EBITDA would recover gradually in the next two years, supported by a slow improvement in demand, amid falling interest rates and the removal of the ban on consumer durable imports since 
October 2023.