Diversified Sri Lankan conglomerate Sunshine Holdings PLC reported strong growth in turnover and profitability during the year ended March 31,2018, with the group’s consumer and agribusiness, sectors leading growth while its sizeable Healthcare segment remained the major contributor to total group revenues.
During the year in review, the group’s top line expanded by 12.4% YoY (Year-on-Year) up to Rs. 21.2 billion with the group’s healthcare sector accounting for 38% of total revenue—despite recording limited growth during the year—followed by its agriculture and consumer sectors which contributed 34% and 25% respectively.
Profit After Tax (PAT) for the period rose by 11.9% YoY up to Rs. 1.8 billion, supported in particular by stronger performances in the agri-sector, while Profit After Tax and Minority Interest (PATMI) grew by 47.1% YoY to Rs. 829 million and earnings per share increased from Rs. 4.13 in FY17 up to Rs. 6.08 per share in FY18.
“It is been another highly successful year for the Sunshine Group, during which time we were able to take several bold and progressive measures to shore up growth prospects for our Agri and consumer businesses including major investments into the dairy subsector,” said Sunshine Group Managing Director, Vish Govindasamy.
Among notable development within the group during this time was the purchase by Sunshine of Estate Management Services (Pvt) Ltd, the holding company for Sunshine’s consumer and Agribusiness sectors. The share buy-back deal from Tata Global Beverages saw Sunshine increase its stake in the company to 60%, compared to 33% held prior and Pyramid Wilmar increasing its stake from 35% to 40% with the total deal being valued at Rs. 9 billion.
The group’s consumer sector reported revenues of Rs. 5.4 billion, reflecting an outstanding improvement of 27.7% YoY on the back of both volume and price growth. The domestic branded tea business within consumer sold 4.5m kg of branded tea, up 13.4% YoY, driven by their largest brand ‘Watawala Tea’, and their premium brand ‘Zesta’. PAT from the consumer segment grew by 6.7% YoY, to stand at Rs. 294 million for FY18. The increase was mainly driven by the higher sales volumes, despite a marginal increase in finance cost.