Nestle Lanka's March 2010 quarter profits rose 3.6 percent to 482.4 million rupees, despite higher tax costs, accounts filed at the Colombo stock exchange showed.

Revenues of the Sri Lankan unit of the food multinational rose 3.07 percent to 5.24 billion rupees, while cost of sales rose at a marginally slower rate of 1.81 percent to 3.38 billion rupees, resulting a gross profit of 1.86 billion rupees, up 5.46 percent.

Marketing, sales and distribution costs were up 10.3 percent to 834.8 million rupees, which included 134 million rupees as nation building tax, special levy imposed by the government to supposedly finance infrastructure projects.

Nestle Lanka is a unit of the Swiss-based multinational food company which has business interests in milk powder, chocolate, energy drinks, various processed foods, cereal and baby foods.

In the March quarter Nestle Lanka's tax costs rose 22.92 percent to 265.4 million rupees.

The firm's gross assets rose 22 percent to 6.6 billion rupees.

Source LBO