Retail Holdings’ selling out Singer another outflow of US $ 10 Mn from Capital Markets

October, 16, 2018

Whilst Sri Lankan Billionaire Dhammika Perera controlled Hayleys PLC bought the remaining stake of Singer Sri Lanka taking full control of the local Singer franchise, perhaps for the first time ever in Singer’s history that local company bought the company’s global brand, block trade in Singer Sri Lanka amounting to 35,562,883 shares traded at Rs. 47 per share records nearly US $ 10 million outflow from the capital markets of Sri Lanka, analysts note.

On Monday (October 15th 2018) the block traded with a total value of around Rs. 1.7 billion or US $ 10 million. Soon after the block trade, Singer (SINS) has glided down back down to Rs. 30 per share. Analysts and also an official disclosure from Hayleys PLC to Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) said that the seller was Retail Holdings (Sri Lanka) BV - the company that used to own a controlling stake in (SINS) before they sold to CSE listed Hayleys few months ago.  

On Monday All Share Price Index (ASPI) closed in red as a result of price losses in counters such as Hatton National Bank, John Keells Holdings and Lion Brewery with the turnover crossing Rs. 1.9 billion. A similar behaviour was witnessed in the S&P SL20. Crossings were witnessed in Singer Sri Lanka and Cargills, accounting for 85.6% of the turnover. Furthermore, foreigners remained active closing as net sellers mainly due to foreign selling in Singer Sri Lanka. Total foreign sales accounted for 89.6% of the turnover.