The marketing subsidiary of Bogawantalawa Tea Estates (BTE) Plc, BPL Teas Private Ltd., which used to be a loss making entity over the years, has showed a positive turnaround during the year ended March 31, 2010, a senior official of the firm said.
According to the group’s chairman, tea manufacturer and green tea exporter, BPL Teas made a profit after tax of Rs. 6.9 million during the recent financial year.
“As a result of the continuous efforts made during the recent past, the marketing subsidiary has begun to give positive results as evidenced by declaring a profit after tax of Rs. 6.9 million for the year under review,” BTE Plc chairman D J Ambani highlighted in his message written to the shareholders at the release of BTE’s 2009 annual Report last week.
He said that the company had made a considerable progress during the year and was able to increase the market share especially in highly competitive markets such as Europe and the US.
“In addition to the positive financial results shown by the company, the firm continued to enhance the facilities at the processing centre to meet the high International Standards,” the chairman said.
BTE Plc reported a profit after tax of Rs. 120.4 million for the year ended March 31 2010, a complete turnaround from a loss of Rs. 126.4 million recorded during the corresponding period in the previous year. Gross profit shot up by 144 percent to Rs. 331.8 million helped by a sharp increase in revenues from Rs. 2.8 million a year ago to Rs. 3.56 million. However, the group has not allocated a management fee this year although it spent Rs. 4.4 million on it last year.
The chairman said that BTE Plc has embarked on Agroforestry, Dairy farming and Tea-based tourism projects this year.
“One of the impediments for effective implementation of the above is the lack of clear-cut policy guidelines. Policy consistency is an area in which the plantation sector has had a poor record,” Ambani pointed out.
He said union demand for wage hike also remains an issue considering the long-term viability of the industry as well as the competitiveness of Ceylon tea in international markets.
“There has been almost a 40% wage hike at the last round of wage negotiations which had around Rs. 402 Mn. impact (Incl. gratuity provision) on the cost of production of our company (Rs. 49 per kg of Made tea). It is therefore important that the companies and the trade unions agree to look at the industrial relations issues with a fresh and open mind in the best interest of the industry. This is because the sector cannot sustain any further ad hoc wage increases without linking such increases to productivity and product quality or in other words to “Value Addition”, he outlined.
Meanwhile, BTE Plc which is Sri Lanka’s largest supplier of iced tea to the United States entered into a Joint Venture (JV) agreement in June 2010 with US based, Walters Bay International by incorporating a new BOI company “Walters Bay Bogawantalawa Estates (Pvt) Ltd”.
This JV company has already set up a state of art processing centre at Welisara to manufacture iced tea in packaged form for export to US, in fulfillment of its contractual obligations with the global multiple brands.(AR)
http://www.thebottomline.lk/2010/09/12/biz_news.html
According to the group’s chairman, tea manufacturer and green tea exporter, BPL Teas made a profit after tax of Rs. 6.9 million during the recent financial year.
“As a result of the continuous efforts made during the recent past, the marketing subsidiary has begun to give positive results as evidenced by declaring a profit after tax of Rs. 6.9 million for the year under review,” BTE Plc chairman D J Ambani highlighted in his message written to the shareholders at the release of BTE’s 2009 annual Report last week.
He said that the company had made a considerable progress during the year and was able to increase the market share especially in highly competitive markets such as Europe and the US.
“In addition to the positive financial results shown by the company, the firm continued to enhance the facilities at the processing centre to meet the high International Standards,” the chairman said.
BTE Plc reported a profit after tax of Rs. 120.4 million for the year ended March 31 2010, a complete turnaround from a loss of Rs. 126.4 million recorded during the corresponding period in the previous year. Gross profit shot up by 144 percent to Rs. 331.8 million helped by a sharp increase in revenues from Rs. 2.8 million a year ago to Rs. 3.56 million. However, the group has not allocated a management fee this year although it spent Rs. 4.4 million on it last year.
The chairman said that BTE Plc has embarked on Agroforestry, Dairy farming and Tea-based tourism projects this year.
“One of the impediments for effective implementation of the above is the lack of clear-cut policy guidelines. Policy consistency is an area in which the plantation sector has had a poor record,” Ambani pointed out.
He said union demand for wage hike also remains an issue considering the long-term viability of the industry as well as the competitiveness of Ceylon tea in international markets.
“There has been almost a 40% wage hike at the last round of wage negotiations which had around Rs. 402 Mn. impact (Incl. gratuity provision) on the cost of production of our company (Rs. 49 per kg of Made tea). It is therefore important that the companies and the trade unions agree to look at the industrial relations issues with a fresh and open mind in the best interest of the industry. This is because the sector cannot sustain any further ad hoc wage increases without linking such increases to productivity and product quality or in other words to “Value Addition”, he outlined.
Meanwhile, BTE Plc which is Sri Lanka’s largest supplier of iced tea to the United States entered into a Joint Venture (JV) agreement in June 2010 with US based, Walters Bay International by incorporating a new BOI company “Walters Bay Bogawantalawa Estates (Pvt) Ltd”.
This JV company has already set up a state of art processing centre at Welisara to manufacture iced tea in packaged form for export to US, in fulfillment of its contractual obligations with the global multiple brands.(AR)
http://www.thebottomline.lk/2010/09/12/biz_news.html
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