Records Rs. 77.8 bn PAT for FY 21-22
LOLC Group recorded an upsurge in profits by as much as 46% over the previous year to deliver a Profit before Tax of Rs. 83.8 billion and Profit After Tax of Rs. 77.8 billion for the financial year ended March 31 2022.
The Total Comprehensive Income of the Group reached Rs. 161 billion, which is unparalleled in the history of any Sri Lankan corporate entity. LOLC Group’s strong global expansion across the two continents of Asia, including Central Asia and Africa, across financial services, leisure and plantations derived a major portion of its revenues from them.
LOLC Finance PLC and Commercial Leasing and Finance PLC merged recently and the combined entity delivered a colossal pro forma Profit Before Tax (PBT) of Rs. 25.6 billion and pro forma Profit After Tax (PAT) of Rs. 23.5 billion as at March 31, 2022.LOLC Development Finance PLC too reported a healthy financial year with Profit After Tax of Rs. 389 million. Looking ahead, the Group is focused on taking its lifestyle based payment gateway, iPay, global, which will give the Group’s financial services operation a cutting edge in global markets, reflecting its innovation and global drive. Industry leadership has brought recognition to it on both local and international platforms. During 2021, LOLC General Insurance recorded a premium income growth of 19.2% which was the highest growth recorded by a mid/large sized company in the General Insurance industry. Further, LOLC Life Assurance became the first insurer within the local Life Insurance industry to achieve the Rs. 4 billion milestone within the first 10 years of operation. The company ended 2021 with premium income of Rs. 4.4Bn, and a net profit growth of 36.6%. Replicating the success of the micro, small and medium enterprise financial services operation globally, the Group is now poised to launch its insurance business model to global markets under the brand of Serendib Insurance which was launched in Cambodia Browns, a 140-year-old trading company, recorded a Profit After Tax of Rs. 1.8 billion nfor the year 2021 across its business divisions. Through its strategic investments arm Browns Investments, the Group’s plantation sector, which operates Maturata and Gal Oya plantations, recently acquired two plantations from the UK based 128-year-old company Finlays Group, namely, Udapusselawa and Hapugaskanda plantations.
Demonstrating its visionary approach, the LOLC group has invested in research and innovation through its subsidiary LOLC Advanced Technologies and is currently in the commercialization phase for various technologies such as graphite to graphene conversion and rice fortification. LOLC Group made its initial investment into Cambodia in 2007and has since established a firm footprint in many countries including Cambodia, Myanmar, Indonesia, Philippines and Pakistan in South and South East Asia.
Once ongoing negotiations are completed, the Group has planned an investment pipeline into the giant market offered by India.
In Central Asia, the LOLC Group is present in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan while being poised to enter Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. On the African continent, the LOLC Group is already present in Nigeria, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Tanzania, Kenya and Egypt. In its latest plans, the Company is looking to enter Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Ghana, Ugandaand Rwanda.
Building on its plantation management expertise, the Group operates sugarcane plantations in Sierra Leone. Sunbird Sierra Leone Limited (SBSL) is a large agro-based company with 23,500 hectares of land, with the option to increase it to 50,000 Ha, along with a sophisticated production facility which produces Extra Neutral Alcohol (ENA). SBSL has a production capacity of 100,000 liters of ENA per day and 380,000 liters of Bio ethanol per day. In addition, the Group remodelled its holdings in the Sierra Group during the year. Meanwhile, the Group recently acquired luxury leisure property in Mauritius, the Radisson Blue with 100 keys, and will soon be the largest leisure operator in the Maldives, expecting to add 1,077 keys to the market soon.In Sri Lanka, the Group commands a room capacity of 909 keys with a further capacity of 363 keys under construction and is among the largest leisure operators in the country.