EPF, ETF in merger talks
The Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) and the Employees' Trust Fund (ETF) are holding talks on the possibility of merging the two funds, ETF chairman Dinesh Weerakkody has said. "There has been some discussion about amalgamating the EPF and the ETF in order to make the service delivery more effective and to create a larger pool of capital funds," he said in a statement.

"It gives a fillip to the investment portfolio available, so those earnings could treble," he added. "If such an amalgamation takes place the new fund should be managed by professional and competent people and be free of political interference, Weerakkody said. "Also, this should enable the management to recruit exceptional talent, introduce rapid changes and bring up the levels of service very quickly to equal or even surpass the private sector provident funds which currently services some of the working population. This is a huge opportunity."

In the future, there also may be partnerships with financial institutions and investment bodies as well as new products such as special loans to members who need to acquire tertiary educational qualifications such as a MBA or a CIMA.

Weerakkody said the ETF has been revamped and that the new management had introduced a more "customer-oriented culture."

"Where a member in the past was seen as a member of the public requiring a service, now they see him/her as a customer who is the focus of our service delivery," he said.

The fund had rationalised its operations and created a Customer Service Unit with hand-picked employees while the Collection Department had been rea-organised.

About 80 percent of the member contributions come from 25 percent of the employees. The fund has increased the effectiveness of collections, which now exceed Rs. 300 million a month compared with Rs. 270 million a month on average previously. "Our target is Rs. 330 million per month which we hope to average before the end of the year," Weerakkody said. "Our performance drivers are to increase contributions by 22 percent, reduce costs by Rs. 50 million and declare an interest plus dividend of 12 percent for 2002," he said.

The ETF had declared a dividend of 11 percent last year, an improvement over 2000. The fund had already managed to make some cost reductions and increased portfolio income by about 19 percent.

"We anticipate a return of 15-20 percent overall on our investments," he said. The fund hopes to give more benefits and introduce new products and services, and at the same time, enhance its financial strength, Weerakkody said.

In the past there had been many problems relating to issuing of Annual Member Statements (AMS), questions of efficiency relating to maximising the return on investments in the equity and debt market, and queries about the transparency of ETF operations.

"Most of these problems and particularly the AMS issues had been linked to a dysfunctional Member Administration Software System," he said. "We have been able to address all these issues. We recently out-sourced the entire backlogged clearing operations amounting to 30 million transactions to DMS Software Engineering after competitive evaluations of quotes of vendors, obtaining the lowest overhead for this operation."

Weerakkody said the biggest achievement was the introduction of the speedy claims, processing of normal claims in 21 days and introducing express claims of payment within two days, at a nominal charge of Rs. 1,000. "We have not overlooked the member whose income does not enable him to meet the charge," he added.

"In such instances, we have introduced a priority processing operation under which the claimant could have his dues paid within 14 days."


Paint manufacturers' association conducts AGM
The Paint Manufacturers' Association of Sri Lanka is planning to sponsor a "responsible care award" - selecting initiatives taken by a small or medium scale industry towards caring for the environment.

The decision to launch this new award scheme - in partnership with an appropriate regulatory body or agency in the current year - was announced at the association's second annual general meeting held in Colombo last week.

The association, which comprises eight of the leading manufacturers of decorative, industrial and refinish (automotive) paints, completed its second year of existence under the presidency of Siri Fernando, Managing Director of Masons Mixtures Ltd. The new president is Ajit de Fonseka of Paints and General Industries Ltd.

The group was primarily set up to ensure that the paint industry was managed responsibly and to serve its members, their customers and the Sri Lankan community at large. "Hence part of the objectives of the association was to ensure that member firms not only competed with each other in a robust manner but that they also did so in an ethical and socially accepted way," an association statement said.


New wash system from Whirlpool
"Whirlpool" the single largest consumer durable brand in the world celebrates its 91st anniversary this year. From small beginnings in 1911 with a firm commitment to serve homemakers "Whirlpool" today has reached great heights with brand leadership position in the US, Latin American and European markets a press release said.

In India too, the brand has shown a rapid growth. It went from no brand awareness to claim 85% awareness today and a market share of 25%. In less than three years, the Whirlpool brand has become a household name, emerging as a leader in the Indian refrigerator market.

The brand has the distinction of being the most preferred brand in the washing machine category with market leadership in the segment it pioneered worldwide - the automatic washing machine.

"Whirlpool Whitemagic Agisoak" is the first ever-washing machine that comes with a revolutionary RotoBrush. Its specially designed soft and flexible bristles remove tough stains from cuffs and collars without damaging these. The "Agitronic soak" available only in Whitemagic Agisoak immerses your clothes in soapy water for 30 minutes before the main wash cycle.


Lexi looks good, writes good
The world renowned Brand for Pens, 'Lexi' has introduced a new model to the Sri Lankan Market, branded as, 'Lexi 5'a press release said.

'Lexi' Pens (India) Pvt Ltd, is in the business of manufacturing and exporting writing instruments under the brand of 'LEXI'. All products are manufactured on sophisticated, state of art, Micro Processor controlled molding machines from USA, Japan and Austria, which ensures International quality and consistency.

'Lexi Pens, including the recently introduced new 'Lexi5' pen are designed with special 'Insta-flow' technology and have a special Nickel-Silver Tungsten Carbide ball with high quality water-proof ink that ensures smooth and smudge-free writing.

The 'Lexi 5' pen has a Grip-friendly design and is available in Blue, Black and Red colours. The maximum retail price of this pen is Rs. 10/=.

The brand 'Lexi' has been represented in Sri Lanka for over three years and is a very prominent and respected Brand.

'Lexi' Pens are currently being also marketed in various countries, especially in UK, Cyprus, UAE, Chile, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and Switzerland, to a name a few.

'Lexi' pens are marketed in Sri Lanka by the well known J. L. Morison Son & Jones(Ceylon) Limited who have wide distribution network.


New Shop Houses : a unique concept
Ceylinco Developers Limited the developers of Sri Lanka's mega township development project, Millennium City announces that the final six Shop Houses will be made available for sale for the public from this week onwards a press release said.

This unique concept of Shop Houses allows the buyers to operate the respective business or the practices in the down stairs whilst residing in the upstairs of the house. Initially when Ceylinco Developers Limited launched the 21 Shop Houses in the Millennium City it was snapped up within 2 days resulting all the Shop Houses being sold out even before a brick was placed on the ground.

The all new Shop Houses that have been released would be built in the most sought after location of the Millennium City township project.

The exact location would be bordering Kaduwela, Athurugiriya main road right in front of the Athurugiriya Government Hospital. This allows the operators of the Shop Houses to access the untapped market of 1700 houses comprising over 8500 residencies in the Millennium City.

The Shop owners could cater also to the residence of Athurugiriya and suburbs as well.

The new Shop Houses have been upgraded with more land extents which allow minimum of 3 parking bases in front of the Shop House belong to the owner of the Shop House.

Also, it is ideal for a Bank, Grocery, Pharmacy, Beauty Salon, Tyre Shop, Green Store, Restaurant, Dispensary, Dental Surgeon etc.

In order to ensure the maximum returns to the investors of the Shop Houses, the type of businesses are limited only to a few. (eg. One Pharmacy, One Grocery, One Hardware Shop etc.)

Special introductory price per unit is set at Rs. 4,385,000.00 onwards.

The finance facilities are on offer for deserving investors.


A new creation
Mrs. Cecile Kotelawala wife of Deshamanya Lalith Kotelawala, Chairman of Ceylinco Consolidated who is described as the 'Wind beneath the Chairman's wing is a versatile person who is very talented in many areas,.

Cecile has always designed her own Jewellery. She has been a tower of strength in advising the Design & Manufacturing Sections of Blue Diamonds Jewellery Worldwide and the Gem and Jewellery Divisions of Ceylinco Diamond Trading and Ceylinco Worldwide Trading in designs and product development relating to Jewellery.

A new creation which is an absolute work of art is a beautiful ring designed by Cecile Call Papillon which means butterfly in the French language. This delightful ring which has the combination of diamonds and a Ruby is set in white gold using both the traditional setting methods and the new and innovative setting process developed by Blue Diamonds Jewellery Worldwide call the 'Floating Diamond' process.

The Papillon ring is set with approximately 235 small (1/2 pointers to 3/4 pointer) diamonds in the floating diamond setting with a gemstone of the buyers choice affixed on the top center of the ring .

The Papillon was on display at the Facets 2002 Gem and Jewellery Trade Show at the Colombo Hilton and the first order for the Papillon Ring was from Mrs. Edith Wimalaratna, Chairperson of Universal Gems of Sydney, Australia one of the world's most sought after Traders in genuine Pearls, Black Opals and other precious gemstones.


SLFFA grows in stature
SLFFA which started off on a low key 21 yeas ago is now an organization of great strength and prestige. With 68 active members backing this organisation it is now playing a vital role in export import trade carried out by Air & Sea, and statistically it is responsible for 60% of export/import trade which are routed through SLFFA. This fact was revealed by Sunil Malawana, newly elected Chairman of SLFFA at a recent press briefing held at Galle Face Hotel. Highlighting the international recognition it has received over the years, Malawana focused on SLFFA playing host to conduct the Executive Council Meeting of FAPPA in Sri Lanka in June this year with 70 delegates coming from different countries to participate in this event.


Helping Asia to communicate
Pan Asia Paper Co. Pte Ltd, formed in 1999 in Singapore, is one of the leading suppliers of newsprint and other publication paper, with world-class production facilities throughout Asia.

The aggregated capacity of PanAsia Paper's mills; two in South Korea, one in China and one in Thailand, amounts to 1,320,000 tones of newsprint and 135,000 tones of other publication paper.

PanAsia Paper is also the sole distributor in the Asia Pacific region for its equal shareholders, Abitibi Consolidated Inc. of Canada and Norske Skog Industrier ASA of Norway and its affiliates. PanAsia Paper markets approximately a half million metric tonnes of newsprint and groundwood specialties from North America, Europe and Oceania.

PanAsia Paper employs approximately 2100 people and supplies products to nearly 20 countries.

AG International Pte Ltd is the strategic partner for PanAsia, serving the printing, publishing and converting segments in Sri Lanka. AGI has initiated several offshore business promotional activities in emerging markets.


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