CSE News Updates

Diversified blue chip Expolanka Holdings last week marked its first month as a listed entity during which period foreign holding had increased by 221%.

After the conclusion of the first day of trading on 13 June, the foreign holding in Expolanka amounted to 20.45 million shares whilst when the market closed on Friday 15 July, the non-national holdings had amounted to 65.7 million shares, reflecting a 221% increase or 45.25 million shares. In terms of shareholding, non-national stake is only 3.36% whilst Expolanka’s total number of shares in issue was 1.95 billion.

Analysts said that Expolanka being sought after by foreign funds was a significant achievement for the diversified holding which was the first family-controlled entity to list in recent years. 

Within the last month, of the companies classified under Diversified Holdings, it was only Expolanka which had seen the biggest growth in foreign holding whilst premier blue chip JKH, foreign investors’ proxy to Colombo bourse, has maintained the 40% non-national ownership figure.

Last week was also significant for Expolanka as it closed above its IPO price, exactly a month after debut. Its share price peaked to a high of Rs. 15.30 before closing at Rs. 14.80, up by one rupee. Slightly over 12.6 million changed hands via 1,511 trades for Rs. 177 million. The previous week 29.7 million shares changed hands via 552 trades for Rs. 408 million.

source - www.ft.lk