The LOLC Group has a strong finger on the economy and is bullish on seven key sectors ranging from financial, leisure, insurance, automobiles, agriculture, construction and energy, officials say.
LOLC Group Managing Director/CEO Kapila Jayawardena told the Business Times that the company consistently monitors the country’s economic statistics and charts LOLC’s course based on the potential and the performance of these indicators. “Post-war, LOLC had the first mover advantage in most of these thrust sectors,” he added.
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| Kapila Jayawardena |
On LOLC’s potential in the financial sector, Mr. Jayawardena noted that the company has moved in to the ‘real rural sectors’ in the country by identifying the shift of the people in these areas into the formal financial sector from their informal financial sectors. “LOLC plans to grow in the financial sector by increasing our footprint and also the focus on lower end of this segment and the micro businesses,” he explained, adding that LOLC is also the largest financier of agricultural equipment.
On LOLC’s leisure segment, Mr. Jayawardena said that the company will shortly announce its global operator for the two Confifi Hotels – Club Palm Garden and Riverina Hotel and also the more recently acquired Tropical Villas. He added they will all be one single property when opened next December after the refurbishment. “It’ll have 400 rooms and will be the largest resort hotel in the country,” he said.
As for Eden Hotel, Mr. Jayawardena added that it’s very profitable and that LOLC will do a rolling refurbishment as they don’t want to close it down entirely. He said that LOLC has also secured some signature properties in the East Coast and the deep South and will start construction within the next three years.
On the insurance front, Mr. Jayawardena said that LOLC’s motor portfolio will essentially drive this business. “LOLC’s motor portfolio will make LOLC Insurance one of the largest insurers in the country. We see a big potential in the rural areas in the long term as these places have less than 5% penetration,” he explained.
He further explained that Sri Lanka is becoming a middle income nation as its per capita income is rising. “Also the automobile duties have been dropped, which will make automobiles the next wave in the country. This is one of the reasons LOLC got into automobiles and we own one of the largest automobiles reconditioning plants,” he added. |
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