The price of the world’s most-used cooking oil, palm oil, is expected to remain volatile, given the high stock levels in Malaysia and Indonesia, a top official of a leading Malaysian oil palm cultivating company stated.

Dabur Lanka (Pvt) Ltd, a whollyowned subsidiary of India's leading consumer goods maker Dabur India Ltd, recently inaugurated its packaged fruit-based beverage manufacturing facility in Mirigama, Sri Lanka.

Seylan Bank PLC has posted a net profit of Rs.509.5 million, up by 26 percent Year-on-Year, for the first quarter of the financial year 2013, the interim financial accounts released to the Colombo Stock Exchange showed.

Dialog Axiata PLC (Dialog), Sri Lanka’s largest mobile services operator has entered into an agreement with the Bay of Bengal Gateway (BBG) consortium to land a high capacity submarine cable at a Cable Landing Station (CLS) to be located in Col

People’s Leasing & Finance PLC (PLC) has scaled up from 21st to 17th among the “Top 20 Most Valuable Brands”.

The Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) has obtained global Carbon Neutral certification for the hosting of the 6th South Asia Economic Summit in Colombo.

Takehiko Nakao assumed office as the ninth President of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) yesterday.

John Keells Holdings (JKH) became one of the top three largest holdings in the CF Ruffer Pacific Fund during the month of March.

The largest commercial bank in the country, state-run Bank of Ceylon (BOC) has recently come under scrutiny by multiple international rating agencies and the Central Bank over its faltering capital adequacy, Mirror Business learns.

Revenue of Lighthouse Hotel PLC (LHL) fell 5 percent year-on-year (YoY) to Rs. 203.1 million during the quarter ended March 31, 2013 resulting in a 57.1 million net profit as against Rs. 80.3 million during the corresponding period of the previous ye

MPLN Peiris, Project Director of Sri Lanka Railway M P De Silva, Team Leader of CECB and S L Gupta, General Manager of Ircon International Limited, undertook the trial run on April 23. Other officers from Sri Lanka Railway, CECB and Ircon also partic

Sri Lanka’s Chevron Unit said profits for the March quarter (1Q13) rose to Rs.769.8 million against Rs.661.1 million in the same quarter of the previous year, despite a drop in revenue.

The Jetwing Hotels group is currently in negotiations for a Rs.1.2 billion private placement, according to Jetwing Chairman Hiran Cooray.

Despite the quality of the banking sector assets marginally improving in relative terms, the total volumes of nonperforming loans (NPLs) increased by as much as Rs.18 billion in 2012, according to the Central Bank Annual Report.

The proposal by the Tea Exporters Association (TEA) to set up a tea hub in the country has not been taken seriously by law makers, a top official of the association stated.

Sri Lanka’s Micro Cars Limited has entered into a US $ 20 million agreement with the Board of Investment (BoI) to set up a vehicle manufacturing and assembling plant in the Mirijjawila Export Processing Zone (EPZ) in Hambantota.

Sri Lanka’s Central Bank has embarked on a local and international awareness campaign to refute misinformation and present the factual position of the economy and political environment, amid alleged attempts to tarnish the country’s image

Hatton National Bank PLC (HNB) will issue Rs.4 billion worth unsecured subordinated redeemable debentures to fund its projected lending activities and strengthen the bank’s regulatory Tier 2 capital base.

The national car rier, SriLankan Airlines and the state-run budget carrier Mihin Lanka saw their losses widening during the year 2012, the recently released Central Bank annual report showed.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has recommended Sri Lanka to strengthen its energy sector by diversifying its traditional energy mix and improving cost reflective tariff mechanism.

Bank of Ceylon (BOC) launched its second US $ 500 billion, 5-year Bond issue within a space of 12 months, drawing subscriptions exceeding US $ 2 billion and close to seven times the amount targeted, official sources said.

The Lanka Private Bus Owners’ Association (LPBOA) yesterday announced that they would launch a massive strike between April 20 and 30 to protest against the directive to paint all private busses in light blue.

The Central Bank (CB), the regulator of both banks and non-bank institutions, has acknowledged that a section of licenced finance and leasing companies operating in the country are undercapitalized and therefore, needs infusion of new capital.

Proposed revisions to electricity tariffs are an attempt by the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) to extract Rs. 34.2 billion primarily from Sri Lanka’s poorest consumers, according to Opposition Member of Parliament, Harsha De Silva.

In a move to further liberalize country’s foreign exchange controls, the Central Bank has granted permission to Dialog Axiata PLC (Dialog) to facilitate inward remittances via mobile phone technology, according to the Exchange Controller.

Owners of luxury, semi-luxury and semi-luxury dual purpose vehicles will now have to pay all taxes payable to the Department of Motor Traffic (DMT) before the expiry of 60 days from the anniversary date of the vehicle registration or end of the tax y

A possible global gold price crash as predicted by certain analysts, either this year or next year, has prompted Sri Lankan banks to take a more cautious approach in carrying out pawning businesses.

The Market Research Society of Sri Lanka (MRSSL) is now seeking tax concessions for the profession through provisions in Budget 2013.

State banking giant, Bank of Ceylon (BOC) with an asset base of over one trillion rupees saw its group net profits in December quarter declining 16 percent to Rs.3.5 billion from the corresponding quarter in 2011, according to the quarterly financial

Dialog Axiata PLC announced yesterday that it had secured the 10 MHz tranche of Mobile 4G LTE Spectrum auctioned by the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka.