EPF among top shareholders of a company with just one director

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• PCH September net loss over Rs.63mn
• Net asset per share at negative Rs.1.69

Sri Lanka’s private sector pension fund, the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF), managed by the state, has invested in a company which has just one director in its director board and has negative net worth.  

As at September 30, 2015, the EPF held over 11 million shares in PC House PLC, an information technology entity, representing 3.30 percent of the issued shares of the company as the fourth single largest shareholder.  As per the interim financial accounts released to the Colombo Stock Exchange on Monday, PCH had incurred a net loss of over Rs.63 million for the September quarter, up from a Rs.32.1 million net loss recorded for the same period of the previous year. 

The loss per share deteriorated to 18 cents from nine cents. The net asset per share for the period stood at negative Rs.1.69, further deteriorating from Rs.1.32. The revenue recorded for the period stood at meagre Rs.5 million. The group’s short-term portion of borrowing stood at Rs.1.37 billion.

The PC House share was last traded at 20 cents. According to analysts, the EPF had bought its shares several years ago when the PC House shares were trading at much higher prices.  

At its Initial Public Offering (IPO) in 2010, PC Houses offered 57 million shares at Rs.11 per share. 

The rationality behind some of the investments made by the EPF during the past regime has been questioned many a time. The EPF operates under the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.