Strategic responses to challenges facing the textile manufacturing industry have generated a positive start to 2024-25 for Teejay Lanka PLC, Sri Lanka’s first multinational textile manufacturer.
The Group has reported profit before tax of Rs 273.7 million for the three months ending 30th June 2024, reversing a loss of Rs 701 million in the first quarter of the preceding year.
Revenue for the three months, at Rs 15.4 billion, reflected an improvement of 10% over the corresponding quarter of the previous year, but gross profit grew by 357% to Rs 1.3 billion, Teejay Lanka said in a filing with the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE).
Consequently, the Group posted an operating profit of Rs 382 million from an operating loss of Rs 582 million in the first quarter of 2023-24, and reported net profit of Rs 158.3 million for the quarter under review, in contrast to a net loss of Rs 853 million in the corresponding period of the previous year.
Teejay Lanka PLC also reported a strong balance sheet, ending the first quarter with cash and cash equivalents of Rs 8.9 billion.
Teejay Lanka Chairman Mr Ajit Gunewardene said the Group had stepped up its efforts with a focused ESG framework, and embraced digitalization as a way of life, seeing transformation as the way forward. “We are also focused on developing new product lines, and as a result several initiatives were taken to broaden the Group’s synthetic footprint, contributing to progress in both areas,” he said, adding that the Group is confident that the strategies put in place will allow it to maintain its current growth trajectory and reach US$ 300 million in revenue by offering world class solutions to its customers.
Teejay Lanka CEO Mr Pubudu De Silva said that the Group is witnessing a positive shift in orders to the Asian region and that higher volumes are being generated as a result of offloading from Bangladesh. He said the Group is evaluating the ongoing changes in the market while navigating the effects of identified volatilities and challenges by implementing long term strategies.
The Teejay Group owns manufacturing facilities in Sri Lanka and India, along with a state-of-the-art printing facility in Sri Lanka. An ISO 9001:2015, ISO 14001:2015 and OHSAS 18001:2007 compliant company and the first in the industry to develop green fabric, Teejay Lanka was also the first textile manufacturer in Sri Lanka to receive membership of the US Cotton Trust Protocol. Teejay is a public quoted company with 40 per cent public ownership and the backing of Sri Lanka’s largest apparel exporter Brandix Lanka which has a 32 per cent stake in the Company. Pacific Textiles of Hong Kong, whose key shareholder is the Tokyo Stock Exchange listed Toray Industries Inc., owns 27 per cent of Teejay Lanka.
Teejay Lanka was ranked the No 1 corporate entity among 100 public listed companies in Sri Lanka for Transparency in Corporate Reporting in the TRAC 2023 assessment carried out by Transparency International Sri Lanka (TISL), the local arm of the international corruption watchdog. The TISL assessment was carried out on three areas crucial to fighting and preventing corruption: reporting on anti-corruption programmes, transparency in company holdings and the disclosure of key financial information in domestic operations.