SRI LANKA PIRAMAL GLASS UNIT MAKES US$2.3 MLN LOSS, EXPORTS RISE.

COLOMBO, June 8 Asia Pulse - Sri Lankan glass manufacturer Piramal Glass Ceylon said it made a 261 million rupee (US$2.3 million) loss in the year ended March 31 compared with a profit of 35 million rupees the year before.

Chairman Vijay Shah said sales rose 46 per cent to 2.9 billion rupees but the firm was hit by high interest, energy and raw material costs, and lower domestic demand.

But export sales are rising and Shah said the company hopes to become profitable by the third quarter of this year as it exploits its high value, niche-market bottle making skills.

A company stock exchange filing showed that finance costs shot up to 659 million rupees from 163 million rupees the year before.

Sri Lanka's interest rates rose during the year and the company had invested almost four billion rupees to relocate its plant and double capacity to 250 tonnes a day by modernising its furnace and installing new production lines.

Piramal Glass Ceylon, a unit of India's Gujarat Glass, managed to maintain a gross profit margin of 20 per cent in the year as against 22 per cent the previous year, said Shah.

Chief executive Sanjay Tiwari said that the company's ability to increase sales by 46 per cent, despite the prevailing "discouraging global economic environment" was a "very positive sign".