Retail operations drive Ceylon Cold Stores performance

28 May 2015 04:11 am

Ceylon Cold Stores PLC, a unit of the John Keells group, which has interests in consumer goods manufacturing and retailing, saw its net profit for the March quarter (4Q15) edging down 7 percent year-on-year (YoY) to Rs.601.2 million.

The YoY profit decline was mainly due to the reduction in non-recurring gains from lease rights.

The company has leased out land belonging to it to the group company to facilitate the ‘Waterfront Project.’

Accordingly, the other operating income for the period under review fell 57 percent YoY to Rs.309.8 million. 
Earnings per share weakened slightly to Rs.6.33 from Rs.6.78.

The top line of the group performed extremely well with gross profits surging 114 percent YoY to Rs.1.19 billion, on the back of consumer relief measures announced by the new government. 

The revenue grew 24 percent YoY to Rs.7.4 billion while the cost of sales increased at a lesser pace of 15 percent YoY to Rs.6.2 billion. 
The administrative and other operating expenses increased 21 and 36 percent YoY, respectively.

Meanwhile, for the full year (FY15), the net profit rose 25 percent YoY to Rs.1.52 billion with earnings per share of Rs.16.05, up from Rs.12.81 reported for the previous year. 

The gross profit grew 30 percent YoY to Rs.3.6 billion. The operating profits improved 40 percent YoY to Rs.2.16 billion. A segmental analysis of 4Q15 showed the manufacturing segment of the company reporting a post-tax profit of Rs.433 million against Rs.737.1 million in the same quarter of the previous year. 

Despite the segment’s revenue increasing to Rs.2.78 billion from Rs.2.4 billion on the back of lower global commodity prices, the operating profit also fell to Rs.618.1 million from Rs.766.2 million. 

The performance of the retail segment during the quarter was impressive as it contributed to 24 percent of Cold Stores’ after-tax profit in 4Q15 against a 4 percent in the same quarter of the previous year. 

The post-tax profit of the segment improved to Rs.148.1 million from Rs.39.1 million on the back of revenue increasing to Rs.4.7 billion from Rs.3.65 billion. 
For FY15, the retail segment’s post-tax profit rose to Rs.380.1 million from Rs.93 million in the previous year. The revenue increased to Rs.18.2 billion from Rs.15 billion.  The segment’s contribution to the full year profits improved to 66 percent, from 64 percent.

The John Keells group owns 81 percent of Ceylon Cold Stores.