The Lanka Hospitals Corporation Limited, owners of the Apollo Hospital in Colombo, has succeeded in substantially reducing losses during the first half of the current financial year ended September 30, 2004 posting a loss of Rs. 33 million, down from a loss of Rs. 167.1 million a year earlier – an 80% improvement.

This translated to a loss of 8 cents per share during the period under review against a loss of Rs. 1.32 per share a year earlier.

However the company is carrying Rs. 511 million accumulated losses in its books as at September 30, 2004 according to its provisional balance sheet.

Provisional results reveal that the company has notched an operational profit of Rs. 52 million during this period, up for a substantial loss of Rs. 69.6 million an year earlier. This reflects a 175% turnaround.

The major owners of this hospital are Apollo Hospitals Enterprises Limited of India with 30.66% followed by Property Development Limited, the owners of the Bank of Ceylon headquarters building, with 13.62% and the Life Fund of the Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation with 13.04%.

Some high networth individuals including Dr. T. Senthilverl (10.01%), Mr. R. Navaratnam (3.27%) and the Kuwaiti investors of the Al Nakib family are among the other top ten investors of this company in which EPF also owns 15.75%.

The provisional results now with shareholders indicate that the company has trimmed its finance cost by 13% to Rs. 84.8 million during the half year.

Its current liabilities in the balance sheet run at Rs. 430.6 million including loan instalments of Rs. 49.9 million payable within a year, trade creditors of Rs. 136.1 million, a secured bank overdraft of Rs. 177.6 million and a Trust Receipt loan of Rs. 36.3 million.

The company has an issued share capital of Rs. 1.57 billion and a share premium of Rs. 986 million in its books. Net assets per share as at September 30, were Rs. 7.37, down from Rs. 7.57 a year earlier. The share traded at a high of Rs. 14 and a low of Rs. 10.75 during the quarter ended September 30 compared to a trading range of Rs. 15.50 to Rs. 12 a year earlier.