John Keells PLC, the first company to be set up under the John Keells banner in 1870, has boosted group revenue 5.8% to Rs.671.5 million but seen profit after-tax dip 29.8% to Rs.135 million in the year ended March 31, 2008.

However, at company level profit after-tax grew a health 50.7% to Rs.255.2 million on the back of 17.2% revenue growth to Rs.439.4 million.

John Keells Chairman Susantha Ratnayake said that the company’s after-tax profit had grown on account of increased broking income and dividends from the associate company.

He said that John Keells, which also owns the group’s Glennie Street headquarters premises, continued to maintain the largest market share in the Colombo tea auctions.

Their warehousing activities under John Keells Warehousing (Pvt) Limited had to face a challenging year with inflation-fuelled cost increases and no revision in storage charges.

"In spite of higher costs, your company continued to maintain a high standard of efficiency in servicing both producers and exporters," he said.

Ratnayake also reported that net income from real estate had seen a modest decline over the previous year.

The company’s CEO, Mr. Sudath Munasinghe, said that the company’s tea brokerage income was up 28% from the previous year while income from rubber brokerage grew 11% with satisfactory margins achieved on account of price increases both in tea and rubber.

However, John Keells Stockbrokers (Pvt) Limited had seen a turnover dip 15% and the pre-tax profit decline 33% due to lower market turnover arising from the negative stock market sentiment.

"Associate company Keells Realtors Limited too declined in performance due to the disposal of property at Navam Mawatha during the previous year,’’ he said.

John Keells Stockbrokers (Pvt) Limited, where the company has a 76% interest, had posted a profit before-tax of Rs.74 million.

"Business was generated from a good mix of client segments and being the broker to the largest healthcare acquisition during the review period, assisted the bottom line," Munasinghe said.

John Keells Warehousing, a fully owned subsidiary, had marginally improved the pre-tax profit from the previous year with utilization levels at the warehouse recording improvements.

Keells Realtors in which the company has a 32% holding, posted a pre-tax profit of Rs.53.7 million, down sharply from Rs.233.7 million the previous year.

Munasinghe said that the decrease in the profit in the year under review was on account of the sale of their Navam Mawatha property.

John Keells has a stated capital of Rs.152 million and a revenue reserve of Rs.1.03 billion. Its interest bearing borrowings were running at Rs.66.4 million.

JKH with 76% is the biggest shareholder followed by Ceylon Investments (6.01%) and the Ceylon Guardian Investment Trust (4.88%).

Net assets per share were up to Rs.68.65 from Rs.58.86 the previous year, while the company’s share traded at a high of Rs.98 and a low of Rs.83.25 during the year under review. This compared with a trading range of Rs.113.50 to Rs.80.25 the previous year. The directors of the company are: