Colombo Dockyard transferred to Default Board

The country’s largest shipbuilding and repair company, Colombo Dockyards PLC, was transferred to the Colombo Stock Exchange’s Default Board yesterday for failing to publish the financial statements for the fourth quarter ended December 2015.

An earlier company statement said that the adverse global economic conditions and especially the fall in oil prices had caused customers to communicate their inability to proceed with some orders according to the originally agreed terms and conditions. The financial statements will not be published until the renegotiations are complete.

“The board, having obtained professional advice, is negotiating with the customers with regard to the above matters.

Hence, the board is unable to publish the unaudited financial statements for the fourth quarter of the financial year 2015 at present,” the company said. For the corresponding quarter in 2014, Colombo Dockyards posted a net profit of Rs.174.29 million, falling from a Rs.281.62 million net profit for the fourth quarter of 2013.

The revenue had fallen to Rs.4.09 billion from Rs.4.89 billion, while the cost of sales fell to Rs.3.63 billion from Rs.4.52 billion in the same period. For the first nine months in 2015, the company posted a net profit of Rs.500.03 million from Rs.115.56 million in the same period in 2014. The revenue increased to Rs.11.33 billion from Rs.10.58 billion and the cost of sales increased to Rs.9.63 billion from Rs.9.59 billion in the same period.

As at September 30, 2015, the company’s asset base stood at Rs.17.62 billion, improving from Rs.16.44 billion as at the start of the year. Rs.9.90 billion of the assets were in receivables. Last year, Colombo Dockyard had expressed interest in expanding its facilities in the Colombo Port with an investment of US $ 200 million. Japan’s Onimichi Dockyard Company Limited owns 51 percent of the shares in Colombo Dockyard, while the Sri Lankan government owns over 35.56 percent of the shares through various public banks, corporations and funds.