Sri Lanka’s Premier blue chip company John Keells Holdings PLC (JKH) reported a major growth of 5%, with most sectors except leisure performing well, whilst the bottom-line declined sharply largely due to non-operational factors.
Consolidated revenue in the first quarter of FY19/20 grew by 5% to LKR 31.74 billion. The Group earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) at LKR 4.04 billion was a decrease of 10% over the adjusted EBITDA of LKR 4.51 billion recorded in the previous financial year.
The Group profit before tax (PBT) at LKR 1.36 billion was down 53% and the profit attributable to equity holders was lower by 55% to LKR 994 million. JKH, in a statement, said profits for the quarter were mainly impacted by the non-cash expense arising from the adoption of SLFRS 16 and the decline in finance income at the Holding Company.
It said the Transportation, Consumer Foods and Retail industry groups continued their growth momentum from the previous quarter, despite the disruptions post-Easter Sunday terror attacks, which occurred early in the quarter. The latter significantly impacted the performance of JKH’s leisure sector.
The performance of the Group is after adjusting for the new Accounting standard SLFRS 16 which came to effect this year, for fuller disclosure. Accordingly, EBITDA in 2018/19 is comparatively adjusted for the impact of SLFRS 16, on a like-with-like basis against the EBITDA in 2019/20 (adjusted EBITDA).