Asian Hotels Corporation Ltd., which controls the lion's share of 5-star hotel rooms in Colombo, has reported a profitable operation after meeting interest commitments in the first quarter of the current financial year ending June 30, 1998, shareholders have been told.

Asian Hotels are the owners of the Hotel Lanka Oberoi and the controlling shareholder of Hotel Services (Ceylon) Ltd., the owners of the Hotel Ceylon Intercontinental, in which it has a 51.63% stake. Additionally the company also owns 42.45% of Trans Asia Hotels Ltd.

Crescat Developments Ltd. is a fully owned subsidiary of Asian Hotels.

In an interim report to shareholders, the company said that it had boosted turnover during the quarter under review to Rs. 200.1 million from Rs. 117.9 million. These figures included partial recognition of apartment sales of Crescat Developments.

The operating profit after interest was Rs. 15.2 million, up from a loss Rs. 7.1 million in the corresponding quarter last year. Despite a drop in other income and share of associate company profits, Asian Hotels was able to post a profit of Rs. 30.4 million attributable to the group for the period under review, up from Rs. 18.3 million a year earlier.

The company has an issued share capital of Rs. 2.2 billion and Rs. 1.1 billion in its share premium account. It has net current assets of Rs. 111.1 million.