“Our hospitals, hotels and the pharmaceuticals distribution businesses have been the key drivers of revenue growth for the year with 45.4 percent, 32.6 percent and 24.2 percent growth rates respectively.
With regard to growth in earnings, the businesses of Hotels, Power and Pharmaceutical Distribution have led the way with growth rates of 105.9 percent, 74.4 percent and 23.7 percent respectively,” Hemas CEO Husein Esufally said.
With regard to growth in earnings, the businesses of Hotels, Power and Pharmaceuticals Distributions have led the way with growth rates of 105.9 percent and 23.7 percent respectively, while hospitals too contributed positively by reducing its startup losses by 49 percent during its second full year of operation.
The past year turned out to be an important one for the company as well as the country as a whole.
“This year’s Group performance was marked by a healthy growth in revenues and profits despite our biggest and most profitable business, FMCG posting a decline in profits.
This was possible as a result of the strong performance of our Pharmaceutical business, the steady build up of our Hospital revenues, the resurgence in our Hotels business and the excellent year enjoyed by our Renewable Energy business.
“It was a year in which our past investments in related diversifications have brought about stability and growth to our business portfolio,” Essufally said.
FMCG business grew its revenues by 10.5 percent to close the year at Rs 5.8 billion although profits declined by 18.4 percent to Rs 519 million.
This was mainly due to the introduction of a CESS on selected imports impacting our margins in the households category, together with the continuing upward momentum of palm oil prices which resulted in a sharp rise in raw material costs of our personal wash products.
However, through timely management interventions the business was able to overcome these setbacks, and we expect that margins will be gradually restored over the coming year.
source - www.dailynews.lk