John Keells Group Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortisation (EBITDA) recorded Rs.4.76 billion, which is a 494 per cent increase against the comparative period (2020/21 Q1: Rs. 802 million).
The comparative performance with the first quarter in the previous year is distorted since there were varying impacts on account of the travel restrictions due to the third wave to the Group’s businesses in the current year although the country had an island-wide lockdown for a similar length of time.
The Group’s businesses, except for Consumer Foods, recorded an improvement in profitability compared to the first quarter of the previous year. Since the easing of the restrictions in early July 2021, barring inter-provincial travel for non-essential services, business activity has seen a strong recovery to ‘near normal’ levels. The handover process of the residential apartment units at ‘Cinnamon Life’ commenced, resulting in the recognition of revenue and profits from sales for the first time in the project.
The Group’s Port business, SAGT, recorded an increase in profitability against the corresponding period of the previous financial year driven by an encouraging double-digit growth in volumes since the third wave had a limited impact on port activity and demand unlike with the onset of the pandemic in the first quarter of last year.
Further to the execution of a Letter of Intent (LOI) to develop and operate the West Container Terminal in the Port of Colombo, work is progressing well towards meeting the conditions stipulated in the LOI, including finalisation of the project design and costs and other structuring arrangements.
The performance of the Supermarket business continued its strong quarter-on-quarter recovery momentum with same store sales recording double-digit growth prior to the outbreak of the third wave, with the month of April 2021 recording higher than anticipated sales.