The Hayleys Group demonstrated resilience in the third quarter of 2019/20 to achieve a 41% growth in profit-after-tax.
The robust performance during the quarter enabled the Group to offset the subdued performance of the previous quarters, with the Group’s profit-after-tax increasing by 18% on a cumulative basis during the nine months up to December 2019.
Turnover declined marginally to Rs. 160.6 billion in nine months, mainly reflecting reductions in the Leisure, Transportation and Consumer and Retail segments while other sectors including Purification (+23%), Textiles (+15%), Hand Protection (+4%) and Industry Inputs (+18%) recorded top line growth. Improvements in the core performance of key sectors, particularly across export-oriented business lines is reflected in the 9% increase in Consolidated Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) to Rs.16.3 billion.
Consolidated operating profit also recorded an increase of 9% to Rs.12.3 billion, driven by Purification (+81%), Textiles (+83%), Hand Protection (+45%) and Industry Inputs (four fold increase) among others. The growth in Group operating expenses was contained at 4%.
Consolidated finance costs increased by 9% to Rs.8.4 billion, although the quarter recorded a reduction of 1% reflecting the gradual decline in interest rates. The Group’s consolidated pre-tax profit increased by 11% to Rs.3.9 billion while profit after tax also grew to Rs.2.2 billion from 1.9 billion, a commendable achievement given the operating conditions. Meanwhile, total assets increased by 4% to Rs.242.2 billion by end-December 2019.
“The recently announced tax concessions are likely to result in improved consumer and investor sentiments presenting upside potential for the Group,” said Chairman and Chief Executive of Hayleys PLC, Mohan Pandithage.