[Sri Lanka] Piramal Announces 2008 Loss

Piramal Glass Ceylon, the Sri Lankan unit of India's Gujarat Glass, said its net loss for the December quarter was 54M rupees, compared with a net profit of 1.5M a year ago. The company, known as Ceylon Glass, was hit by a sharp rise in finance costs. In the 9m ending 31 Dec/08, the net loss was 206.7M rupees, compared with a net profit of 89.7m rupees the year earlier. Sales rose 65% to 2.2BN rupees during the 9m period. The results include other operating income of 53m rupees, which came almost entirely from capital gains from he sale of scrap material at its former factory premises near the capital Colombo. In 2008 the company shifted to a new location south of Colombia where it has commissioned all five production lines.