18 May 2010, Colombo – Local media reports say that Sri
Lanka's Hayleys net profit shot up 471% to 1.8 billion rupees last year, on the
previous year, as its core businesses recovered from recession, loss-making
sectors turned around and it sold stakes in hotels it owned.
According to Lanka Business Online, a stock exchange filing
said Hayleys group, which accounts for 2.3 percent of Sri Lanka’s export
income, had sales of 38 billion rupees in the financial year ending March 31,
2010, up 18% on the year before. In the 2008-2009 financial year Hayleys
profits fell 31% to 311 million rupees on lower margins and exports as the
export-oriented group was hit by the global economic slump, the report said.
According to the report, Hayleys chairman Mohan Pandithage
said in a statement that key gloves and activated carbon making businesses
"significantly improved" their performances in 2009-10. At the same
time the previously loss-making consumer products and fibre businesses made an
"impressive turnaround", he said.
The group owns Haleys MGT Knitting Mills, a cotton and
synthetic jersey manufacturer and major supplier to top international brands
such as Marks & Spencer, Next, Nike, Tesco and Decathlon. The company has a
production capacity of 4 million metres of fabric per month at its
state-of-the-art plant at Narthupana Estate in the Kalutara District. Haleys
MGT is also a key supplier of high quality knitted fabric to the Sri Lankan
apparel industry and to export markets.
.gif)
