Aitken Spence group Q3 net up 31.3 pct yr/yr

COLOMBO, Feb 12 (Reuters) - Sri Lankan conglomerate Aitken Spence SPEN.CM said on Tuesday its third-quarter group net profit rose 31.3 percent from a year ago to 342.31 million rupees ($3.2 million), thanks to a strong performance in the cargo and logistics sector with a reduced loss in tourism.

"The Cargo and Logistics sector did extremely well," Rajan Britto, deputy chairman of the conglomerate, told Reuters.

"The Tourism sector has improved and our Sri Lankan hotels made 120 million rupees loss in the last quarter, compared to a 267 million rupees loss in the previous year."

Revenue for the third quarter rose 38.6 percent to 6.2 billion rupees from 4.47 billion rupees a year ago. while basic earnings per share stood at 12.65 rupees from 9.63 rupees during the similar period.

"The losses in the Sri Lankan tourism sector of the company have come down remarkably, so that has driven the growth," said Channa Amarathunga, an investment analyst at Boston Capital.

The Sri Lankan tourism sector, which declined during the first seven months of 2007 due to renewed civil war between the state and Tamil Tiger rebels, recovered during the last five months.

Tourism data showed tourist arrival rose 24 percent in the last three months of 2007 compared to the previous year.

Aitken Spence has investments in tourism, cargo logistics and strategic investments such as power generation, plantations and garment industries.

It has ventured into the hospitality industry in the Maldives, India, and Oman.

The results were released after shares in Aitken Spence closed unchanged at 420 rupees a share. (Reporting by Shihar Aneez; Editing by Paul Bolding)