Profits at Sri Lanka's Piramal Glass Ceylon Plc (PGC) fell 93 percent to 18.7 million rupees in the September 2013 quarter from a year earlier as volumes dropped in a slowing economy but the firm said it boosted exports.
The firm reported earnings of 02 cents per share in accounts filed with the Colombo Stock Exchange. In the half year to September 2013 it reported earnings of 40 cents per share on 376 million rupees in total profits.
The stock closed at 5.50 up 10 cents Friday.
In the September 2013 quarter revenues fell 6.4 percent to 1.25 billion rupees from a year earlier, and costs rose 19 percent to 1.08 billion rupees, shrinking gross profits 60 percent to 169 million rupees.
Costs rose after electricity tariffs were raised.
Piramal Glass said domestic sales dropped 11 percent during the six months from a year earlier. Sri Lanka's economy has slowed after an economic bubble partly fired by bank credit funded fuel subsidies burst in late 2011.
In the September quarter domestic sales had dropped 18 percent to 875 million rupees with food, beverage and liquor segments hit.
The firm had however boosted exports 39 percent during the quarter, to 377 million rupees.
"It was encouraging to note the development of new markets growing over 100 percent as against the similar quarter of the previous year," chief executive of Piramal Glass Sanjay Tiwari said.
"Also amidst the Indian Rupee depreciation which has adversely impacted the Sri Lankan Exports to India, PGC managed to maintain its Export volume to India by discounting the prevailing prices. Yet this impacted the margins."
PGC is a unit of India's Piramal group with a 250 tonne palnt in Horana, Sri Lanka, producing glass bottles for food, liquor, pharmaceutical, agro chemical and soft drinks industries.
