First Capital Holdings PLC (the Group), a member of the Janashakthi Group, reported a Loss after Tax of Rs. 413Mn for the year ended 31st March 2022, compared to a Profit after Tax of Rs. 2.1Bn in the previous year. The Wealth Management and Stock Brokering businesses contributed positively towards the Group’s results during what was a challenging period for the market at large.
The loss reported during the year was a result of the trading and marked to mark losses incurred on the government securities portfolio by the Group’s Primary Dealer division. This was due to the significant tightening of monetary policy measures since August 2021.
The Primary Dealer division of the Group reported a Loss after Tax of Rs. 429Mn for the year ended 31st March 2022 in comparison to a Profit after Tax of Rs. 1.8Bn in 2020/21.
Meanwhile, the Corporate Finance division reported a Loss after Tax of Rs. 232Mn for the year ended 31st March 2022 in comparison to Profit after Tax of Rs. 267Mn in 2020/21.
The Wealth Management division reported a Profit after Tax of Rs. 87Mn for the year ended 31st March 2022 as against Rs. 77Mn in 2020/21. The assets under management of the division stood at Rs. 41.2Bn as of 31st March 2022 from Rs. 45.2Bn recorded at 31st March 2021.
The Stock Brokering division recorded a Profit after Tax of Rs. 230Mn for the year ended 31st March 2022 from Rs. 75Mn in 2020/21.
The year also saw the credit ratings of First Capital Holdings PLC and First Capital Treasuries PLC being reaffirmed by ICRA Lanka Limited at “A” with stable outlook in December 2021. Yet another significant milestone for the year was First Capital Treasuries PLC, a subsidiary of the Group and one of Sri Lanka’s leading non-bank primary dealers, being listed on the Diri Savi Board of Colombo Stock Exchange. The listing was managed by the Corporate Finance division of First Capital Limited.
On 8th April 2022, the shareholders of the Company resolved to execute a sub-division of shares by splitting every one (1) existing voting ordinary share into four (4) voting ordinary shares and trading of sub-divided shares was commenced on 5th May 2022.