Hemas Holdings PLC reported group revenue of Rs. 66.56 billion for the first half of the 2026/27 financial year, up 9.5 percent, as all four of its business sectors grew in the second quarter.
Second-quarter revenue rose 17 percent to Rs. 37.79 billion. Quarterly earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased 10.5 percent to Rs. 4.50 billion, while quarterly earnings fell 3 percent to Rs. 2 billion, the company said in its results.
For the six months, EBITDA grew 0.9 percent to Rs. 6.76 billion and earnings declined 9.7 percent to Rs. 2.94 billion. Second-quarter earnings were 113.4 percent higher than in the first quarter.
The Consumer Brands sector posted quarterly revenue of Rs. 15.57 billion, up 18.3 percent, with double-digit growth in Beauty, Home Care and Baby Care. Its earnings fell 30.6 percent to Rs. 1.11 billion because of higher operating costs and pressure on margins.
Life Sciences revenue rose 16.2 percent to Rs. 18.37 billion, while its earnings fell 26.8 percent to Rs. 623 million. Hemas Pharmaceuticals kept its market leadership and secured six new product registrations in the quarter.
Background
The group said it chose to absorb much of the increase in raw material, energy and freight costs linked to the Middle East conflict, in order to protect affordability for consumers and keep sales volumes up. Gross margin fell 3.1 percentage points from a year earlier to 29.7 percent.
Overheads grew more slowly than revenue, which allowed EBITDA to grow. Earnings still declined because of higher finance costs and a higher tax charge. The company linked the finance costs to additional borrowing for working capital and for the Twiga acquisition.
During the quarter Hemas completed its first international acquisition, a 75 percent stake in Twiga Stationers and Printers Limited, a stationery manufacturer and exporter in East Africa. The company said Twiga’s revenue is tracking in line with projections.
In Bangladesh, Hemas reported single-digit revenue growth despite a difficult economic environment, and its male grooming category grew by nearly 50 percent. In the Learning sector, Back-to-School and Bags volumes grew more than 50 percent. Morison’s own-brand volumes in Life Sciences rose 23 percent.
What it means
The results show a large consumer goods and healthcare group absorbing part of its higher input costs instead of passing all of them on to shoppers, at the expense of margin and profit.
The company said Hemas Pharmaceuticals is absorbing higher costs while it awaits approval of regulated price revisions. Medicine prices in Sri Lanka are subject to regulated revisions, so the outcome of those approvals will affect what the company can charge.
