Lankan isle a virgin state to sell in US
Sri Lanka has lured first time visitors from the US so much that these travellers from renowned travel firm Abercrombie and Kent (A&K) want to sell the destination back home to upmarket holidaymakers in search of a culture, history, wildlife and beaches unseen and unheard of; while also helping to preserve the leopard a key [...]
‘Do or die’ for Sri Lanka’s near 150 year-old plantations
In a ‘do or die’ effort to stem a complete breakdown in Sri Lanka’s near 150 year-old tea and rubber plantations, a new revenue sharing model replacing the old compulsory wage structure has been proposed. Buckling under an avalanche of debt which together totalled Rs. 4 billion last year for the 20 regional plantation companies [...]
Another tea factory hotel in SL
Malwatte Valley Plantations PLC is planning to open its 2-star, 60 room property in two years – transforming an old tea factory to a hotel, officials said. This would be the second tea factory hotel after the Aitken Spence Tea Factory hotel in Nuwara Eliya. “It will build on a defunct tea factory (which hasn’t [...]
Malaysia’s Maxis group expresses concern on SLT crisis
Malaysia’s Maxis group, Sri Lanka Telecom’s (SLT) second largest shareholder, has expressed concern on the company’s bureaucratic bungling of top officials when handling its administration, informed sources revealed. Maxis Group representatives on the SLT board of directors were highly disturbed about the handling of operations of the national telecom operator, a local representative with close [...]
Krrish to break ground for mixed development project soon
Indian real estate company Krrish Group will break ground soon for its long-delayed US$650 million mixed development project at Transworks House in Fort as the company has received the approval of the Urban Development Authority (UDA) last week to go ahead, local Krrish officials revealed. The local company Krrish Transworks Colombo (Pvt) Ltd, a subsidiary [...]
Conflict-affected Jaffna private sector needs help more than its management in natural disasters
JAFFNA, Oct. 6 – At an international symposium held in Jaffna recently on disaster resilience with private public partnership, the highest government official in the district lamented that while the issues discussed were on private sector participation in mitigating the impact created by disasters, it has been the other way around as the private sector [...]
Incentives for promotion and development of exports
With the 2016 budget round the corner it is time to think of fiscal and other incentives that could be extended or expansion of exports of goods and services. Merchandise exports earned US$11.13 billion in 2014; service exports earned about US$2 billion from tourism, ICT/Business Process Outsourcing, transport, insurance and construction services; imports were valued [...]
Chaos and confusion in the new regime
When President Maithripala Sirisena announced on September 4, the day the new cabinet was appointed, that a high powered committee chaired by him and the Prime Minister would select only those ‘suitable’ for top posts in government institutions, there was a sense of relief across many segments of society. For, this meant that cronies, the [...]
Depositors of F&G frown on ‘letter’ sent by company
Some of the depositors of the failed Finance & Guarantee (Real Estate) Co and Property Developers (Pvt) Ltd (F&G PDL & RECL) complain that the newly appointed director board of this company is using unfair tactics to prevent the depositors from organising themselves as a group. Some of these depositors have received a letter by [...]
Sri Lanka’s hotel and food show focuses on regional hospitality industry
The third edition of Hotel, Hospitality and Food Asia, South Asia’s International Food, Hotel Supplies and Services Exhibition will take place from 16 to 18 October 2015 at the Sri Lanka Exhibition & Convention Centre in Colombo . Hotel, Hospitality & Food (HHF) Asia is an exclusive professional trade forum, designed to cater to the [...]
SriLankan Airlines seeks views of staff to transform airline into profitable venture
Aiming to transform SriLankan Airlines into a profitable venture, the national airline has launched a company-wide interactive campaign titled, ‘Red to Black’. Under this initiative, senior management has invited the airline’s staff to share their innovative ideas and thoughts on initiatives that can be taken to reduce losses and optimise cost as the airline seeks [...]
Ceylinco Shriram promised payments, a sham? – Letter
I read with much interest the letter sent by a Kandy resident and published in the “Sunday Business Times” on October 4th titled “Ceylinco Shriram and Celestial Residencies”. The aim of this letter is to remind the authorities and the public of the current status of this case in contrary to what the Supreme Court [...]
LAUGFS acquires Bangladeshi LPG Company
LAUGFS Gas PLC, said to be one of the most aggressively growing Sri Lankan energy company, has acquired one of the largest LPG downstream companies in Bangladesh, the local firm’s first overseas acquisition. LAUGFS Gas PLC acquired controlling interests of Petredec Elpiji Ltd (PEL), at an investment of US$18.75 million and became the first Sri [...]
Microimage celebrates 20 years of service to Sri Lanka and the world
Microimage, the company that started as a high-school start-up and built through sheer determination and passion, recently celebrated its 20th anniversary in Colombo. The evening started off with CEO Harsha Purasinghe showcasing the journey of their proprietary software, the very first Sinhala Unicode Keyboard, Helawadena, a collaboration between the ICTA, Microsoft and Microimage making Sinhala, [...]
Former Indian minister to address Sri Lankan tax forum
Palaniappan Chidambaram, a former Indian Minister of Finance and Home Affairs, will be addressing the 20th annual tax oration organised jointly by the Institute of Chartered Accountants and the Faculty of Taxation on October 22 at the CA Sri Lanka auditorium at Malalasekera Mawatha, Colombo, the institute said on Wednesday.
Kingsbury signs Management Agreement with Platinum Realty
The Kingsbury PLC, the luxury five star city hotel in Colombo, has signed a Management Agreement with Platinum Realty Investments (Private) Ltd to manage its Platinum 1 apartment complex. Platinum 1 is a 20 storey apartment complex located at No.1, Bagatalle Road, Colombo 3, comprising of 66 apartments plus 4 penthouses. The complex would have [...]
Intel Stick the new computer dynamo
‘Intel’ created by two Americans – Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore in 1968 – is today a multinational technology company and one of the world’s largest and highest valued semiconductor chip makers. It is the inventor of the x86 series of microprocessors, the processors found in most personal computers (PCs). Revealing these facts, Indika de [...]
Renewed life for senior citizens with Pan Asia Bank’s ‘Sammana’ loan
Pan Asia Bank is offering the ‘Sammana’ loan scheme to government pensioners to provide them with financial independence, the bank said this week. The new loan scheme offers facilities up to Rs.1 million for pensioners as well as retired Central Bank employees with no security requirements needed. Aimed at coinciding with the National Pensioners Day [...]
Maithripala likely to attend global warming summit in Paris in Dec.
France will host the 21 Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP21) in Paris this December where 40,000 delegates and visitors from 195 countries are expected to participate. The ultimate goal of the conference is for the international community to reach a legally binding agreement to limit global warming to cover this century compared [...]
LEGO Day event a huge success
wOw.lk, Sri Lanka’s largest online shopping mall recently partnered with KTI to celebrate Children’s Day by hosting the second edition of ‘LEGO Day’. The highly anticipated ‘LEGO Day’ event took place at the wOw.lk showroom and was attended by over 200 families and children, who were able to enjoy an exciting array of activities, entertainment [...]
Sri Lankan used car dealers mull shifting business to Africa
Sri Lanka government is mulling the grant of tax concessions for motor traders to export used or reconditioned vehicles to a growing African market for the survival of this sector in the island, official sources said. The Treasury is weighing the pros and cons on used vehicle exports to African region as it will be [...]
Ceylon Chamber of Commerce advocates listing of SoBEs in CSE
The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC) has proposed to the government to list Sri Lanka’s State-owned Business Enterprises (SoBE) in the Colombo Stock Exchange to make it viable entities and accountable to the public. Sri Lanka’s 55 major SoBE should even partly be listed at the bourse to transform it to profitable ventures with a [...]
Good corporate governance can improve a company’s bottom line
The TELEGRAPH, UK – As we digest the fallout of yet another big corporate scandal, there are plenty of people left wondering, once again, why there isn’t a better way of doing business. There is. It’s called the B Corporation movement and it arrived in the UK last month. Unlike other companies, a certified B [...]
Infamous hedging deal swept under the carpet?
Shock waves engulfed the watchdogs of the economy with the stunning revelations – some years back – about a gamble involving state funds to the tune of several million dollars in the Ceylon Peroleum Corporation, the largest commercial entity in the corporation sector of the country. Those who were engaged in the exposure in the [...]
Unilever’s global search for young entrepreneurs with big ideas
Unilever recently launched a global search for young entrepreneurs aged 35 and younger offering practical and innovative solutions to some of the world’s biggest sustainability challenges for the 2015 Unilever Sustainable Living Young Entrepreneurs Awards. In line with this initiative Unilever Sri Lanka (USL) is looking for budding young local entrepreneurs that meet the criteria [...]
The second phase of GK repayment plan gets underway
Golden Key 41 per cent repayment process resumes under the new government amidst a fresh move by depositors to file another case against GK directors with the aim of recovering the balance 59 per cent of their money. The Association of the Disgruntled Golden Key Women Depositors Unity is planning to file a case at [...]
US Govt. support to economically develop North and East
Side by side with the South, Sri Lanka’s North is at full swing, poised to participate in the development effort in Sri Lanka, assured K. Poonachandran, past President, Yalpaanam Chamber of Commerce and Industry. He was speaking at the launch of the 7th Jaffna International Trade Fair (JITF) held this week in Colombo. JITF to be [...]
AIA to focus on growth opportunities in Sri Lankan life insurance market
AIA Sri Lanka PLC announced recently that it is to sell its general insurance company to continue to focus on realising significant growth opportunities in the Sri Lankan life insurance market. The company will be divesting its fully owned general insurance subsidiary AIA General Insurance Lanka Limited to Janashakthi Insurance PLC for Rs. 3.2 billion [...]
UML can bank on Mitsubishi to cut forex related cost increases
United Motors Ltd (UML) would be able to pass on forex related cost increases in the Mitsubishi car range as the rupee has weakened against the Japanese Yen since the rupee was floated, a Bartleet Religare research report says. Highlighting the possible downside risks to UML (in the mid-term), the report said that the motor [...]
Local insurers cry foul over unfair listing rule
The Insurance Board of Sri Lanka (IBSL) has said that local insurers won’t be exempt from going public on the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) unlike their foreign counterparts. The IBSL has said that as per the draft amendment they received from the Legal Draftsman’s Department, local insurance firms aren’t exempt from going public, much to [...]
Public sector hospitals offer better treatment and inpatient care than private hospitals – study
A study published by the Institute for Health Policy in 2015 concluded that the quality of treatment and management of inpatient care was actually better in the public sector despite being available at a lower cost, according to a study. According to the same survey, the quality of assessment and investigation was more comparable across [...]
New rules on vehicle financing will shrink NBFI margins – analysts
New rules on vehicle financing will see the smaller Non Bank Finance Institutions (NBFI)’s in a difficult position to compete with larger NBFIs likely to lose market share to the large commercial banks, analysts say. “The law of unintended consequences might play out where the smaller NBFIs who do not have a diversified business model [...]
Total foreign outflows in 3Q15 at Rs. 2.5 bln
The total foreign outflows at the Colombo bourse during the third quarter of the current year stood at Rs. 2,456 million mainly on the back of political uncertainty over the new national government policies along with the lack of clarity on the economic direction, analysts said. “Heavy foreign exits from both the debt and equity [...]