business Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka’s largest steel door manufacturer, Orian Terra Lak Steel (Pvt.) Ltd., would invest around Rs. 100 million for a new factory, new Laser Machine and also to obtain Green and ISO certifications.

Managing Director P. G. Chaminda, while on a factory visit organized by the Chamber of Construction Industry Sri Lanka (CCI) to introduce this company in Habarana, said that he had already invested Rs. 500 million to for the manufacturing plant.

“I am now building a new factory on a four acre land behind the present factory in Habarana and would invest another Rs. 40 million to purchase a Laser Machine to speed up production.”

He said he left for Korea in late 1990’s for employment at the manufactures division of the ‘DAEDONG’ organization, the world’s No.1 company in producing steel door frames and grills. In in a bid to save the environment, over 70% of the buildings in Korea use steel doors.

“At DEADONG, I studied their technology for 8 years and when left, I obtained their assistance and technology to start Orian Terra Lak Steel in Sri Lanka in Habarana in 2015.”

Due to land title issues he was unable to obtain BOI approval for the project, but he managed to get a Rs. 32 million grant from USAID to obtain machinery for his project proposal to build steel doors. “USAID valued my project proposal to make steel doors and save trees.”

He then began manufacturing steel doors, but was unable to find the market as local companies and people were reluctant to buy this locally manufactured steel doors.

“However when I displayed my products at the ‘Dayata Kirula’ 2015 Exhibition that Engineer M. Dissanyake from Ministry of Education, North Central Province purchased 15 doors”.

He recalled with gratitude that the grant from USAID and the purchase of 15 steel doors from the Ministry of Education, were the turning point in his business.

The NCP Education Ministry then purchased many more doors for Science Labs and later other companies too followed. “However, though I make these doors using 100% imported material from Korea with a five year guarantee my products were rejected by mega development projects until recently.”

“However, today leading companies such as Nestle, Brandix and Banks have purchased my doors and two Indian companies too are placing orders with us which prompted me to open a show room in Wennapuwa.”

In addition to manufacturing Steel doors which is of an equivalent weight of a wooden door, Orian Terra Lak Steel also manufactures bullet proof and fireproof steel doors which have been certified by the Sri Lanka Fire Brigade and the Moratuwa University.

Vice President of the CCI, Dr. Rohan Fernando who was also part of the delegation that the CCI would like to help him to obtain BOI after the clearing of red tape and also assist Orian Terra Lak Steel to obtain the Green and ISO certification which would help him to have better recognition for his products. (SS)

The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce inducted Dr. Hans Wijayasuriya as its new Chairperson during its 180th AGM on Friday (28).

Dr. Wijayasuriya, who is the Corporate Executive Vice President and Regional Chief Executive of Axiata Group Berhad, succeeded veteran banker Rajendra Theagarajah as the Ceylon Chamber’s Chairperson.

Additionally, Vish Govindasamy Group Managing Director of Sunshine Holdings was appointed as the Vice Chairperson, and Duminda HulangamuwaPartner and Head of Tax Services of Ernst & Young was appointed as the Deputy Vice Chairperson for the year 2019 – 2020.

The following were elected to the Board of the Ceylon Chamber, in addition to the above office bearers- Krishan Balendra, Chairperson, John Keells Holdings PLC; Husein Esufally, Chairperson, Hemas Holdings PLC;Pravir Samarasinghe, Director/Group CEO, Overseas Realty (Ceylon) Ltd. Shiromal Cooray, Chairperson and Managing Director, Jetwing Travels (Pvt) Ltd;; Asoka Peiris, Director of Hatton National Bank PLC and Cargills PLC; and DharaWijayatilake, CEO of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce.

Dr. Hans Wijayasuriya - Profile

Dr. Hans Wijayasuriya is currently the Group Executive Vice President and Regional CEO for South Asia of the Axiata Group Berhad Malaysia - Asia’s second largest Telecommunications Group.

Dr. Wijayasuriya’s involvement with the Telecommunications industry spans 25 years – both in Sri Lanka and across several Asian markets. Aptly, Hans was honored by the GSM Association as the first recipient of the “Outstanding Contribution to the Asian Mobile Industry” Award in 2016.

Prior to taking up regional leadership responsibilities, Hans led Dialog Axiata for a period of 19 years, during which period the company progressed from being the 4th entrant to Sri Lanka’s mobile market to become the country’s leading multi-play connectivity provider, and one of the highest valued company’s on the Colombo Stock Exchange.

He is also an Independent, Non-Executive Director of John Keells Holdings PLC. Dr. Wijayasuriya is an alumni of S. Thomas’ College Mount Lavinia and graduated from the University of Cambridge UK in 1989.

He subsequently obtained his PhD in Digital Mobile Communications from the University of Bristol UK in 1994.

A Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the Institute of Engineering Technology UK, Dr. Wijayasuriya also holds an MBA from the University of Warwick UK.

Sampath Bank in a stock exchange filing announced that the Board of Directors was successful in allotting all of the shares that remained unsubscribed at the close of the Rights issue of the Company.

Accordingly, the allotments amounting to 25,468,640 shares were made to investors sourced by the Board and by the fulfillment of all of the pending allocations to the shareholders to whom it had previously not been able to allot their full entitlement of rights as a result of the under subscription that remained at the close of the Right Issue.

Furthermore, the bank informed that with the above allotment made at the Board meeting held on June 27, 2019, the Bank has allotted the entire shares of the Rights totaling to 89,006,863 shares, which completes 100% subscription of the Banks Rights Issue 2019.

The market conditions in Sri Lanka were normalizing, Assistant Director at the Communications Department of the International Monetary Fund Camilla Andersen told an IMF press briefing on Saturday.

Responding to a question during the IMF press briefing in Washington, Anderson said, “We note that the market conditions in Sri Lanka is normalizing, and indeed on June 24, the country successfully tapped the international bond market for 2 billion at five- and ten-year maturities and that issuance was well oversubscribed.”

Anderson said the Central Bank of Sri Lanka should continue to follow the interdependent approach adjusting policy rates as warranted by evolving macro economic conditions

“On May 13, the IMF’s Executive Board completed the fifth review of Sri Lanka’s US$ 1.5 billion loan under the Extended Fund Facility, and so far has disbursed US$ 164 million.

The government in a bid to attract more airlines and additional flights would be introducing a series of concessions for international airlines at the Colombo International Airport soon.

These include special concessions on ground handling, fuel charges as well as a waiver of the embarkation tax from US$ 60 to 40, Minister of Tourism, Wildlife and Christian Affairs John Amaratunga said.

“These proposed concessions will help more international airlines to look at Sri Lanka more positively,” the Minister said.

Amaratunge also disclosed that the ‘free visa on arrival’ facility which was offered to Thailand and stalled due to the Easter blasts would be effective soon.

As part of the collaborative effort, a MoU was signed between Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB) and the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) to promote bilateral tourism between the two countries.

“Thailand Tourism too has faced similar experiences (Easter Sunday blasts) and recovered quickly to attract even greater numbers has agreed to share expertise with regard to crisis management and recovery strategies”. Chairman Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau Kishu Gomes said that tourism arrivals are now picking up and all adverse travel advisories, except Russia are been toned down. “This arrival trend is getting stronger and we have set an arrival target of 5 million for 2025.”

He also said that a two month global promotional campaign by an international agency with expertise to handle the present Sri Lanka situation after the Easter Sunday blasts will soon get underway. “The security situation is now totally under control and there would not be any more coordinated attacks”.

Governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, Yuthasak Supasorn said that the industry attracted over US$ 90 billion revenue last year and over 60,000 Sri Lankans visited Thailand last year. “We will collaborate with Sri Lanka Tourism to expedite the tourism recovery programe following the Easter Sunday incidents”.

Ambassador of Thailand, Chulamanee Chartsuwan said that Buddhist trail in Sri Lanka along with many natural places would be popular attractions for Thai tourists in Sri Lanka.”

Asian Development Bank (ADB) President Takehiko Nakao handed to Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe a report on an ADB project in Sri Lanka financed by the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi) at the Leaders’ Special Event on Women’s Empowerment at the Osaka G20 Summit on June 29.

World leaders were in attendance as Nakao presented the report, accompanied by training program coordinator for the We-Fi project Zahra Cader.

Since 2016, ADB has supported efforts by the Government of Sri Lanka to foster women’s entrepreneurship through the Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) Line of Credit Project. This reflects a central pillar of ADB’s new Strategy 2030 in promoting gender equality. In April 2018, ADB received a $12.6 million grant from We-Fi which enabled the project to expand its gender-related impacts through greater access to finance, training, and mentorship for women-owned or led SMEs.

So far, 323 women-owned or led SMEs employing 3,934 people have financially benefitted from the We-Fi grant. In addition, ADB will strengthen the technical capacity of a wide range of stakeholders, including government, banks, chambers of commerce, and SMEs to foster a women’s entrepreneurship ecosystem.

Additionally, ADB received in April 2019 a further We-Fi grant equivalent to $20.19 million to support women’s entrepreneurship in Viet Nam and small island countries in the Pacific. Approximately 5,000 women-led SMEs from Viet Nam and the countries in the Pacific region will benefit from the 5-year program.

ADB invests in women’s entrepreneurship in Asia and the Pacific as part of its commitment to advancing women’s economic empowerment, which is one of the operational priorities of its newly adopted Strategy 2030. By 2030, it is expected that 75% of all ADB projects will promote gender equality.

ADB is committed to achieving a prosperous, inclusive, resilient and sustainable Asia and the Pacific, while sustaining its efforts to eradicate extreme poverty. In 2018, it made commitments of new loans and grants amounting to $21.6 billion. Established in 1966, it is owned by 68 members 49 from the region.

The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC) would call for a constructive policy framework from the government which would design to enable growth. We would also continue to seek transparency and consistency, said new Chairperson, CCC, Dr. Hans Wijayasuriya at the 180th Annual General Meeting held at the Cinnamon Grand.

“We would assume as a fundamental deliverable government, the fostering of national harmony and the maintenance of law and order. We would also seek the setting up and execution of progressive fiscal and monetary policies – the confidence espoused by the global debt market in the recent dollar bond issuance is indicative of the positive role Government continues to play in this regard.”

New Chairperson, CCC Dr. Hans Wijayasuriya addressing the AGM

“While continuing to applaud those institutions and individuals within the public sector who play a pivotal and sacrificial role in advancing our nation, we would also call for the installation of a meritocracy and the eradication of corruption at a fundamental and structural level.”

Dr. Wijayasuriya said that they referred not just to the direct leakage of Rupees and Cents, but also the cost of bad decisions and even the inaction which are motivated by factors other than national interest.

“We are confident that Private sector positivism to combine with a constructive and enabling role of government and a renewed focus on inclusive development, could rapidly transform the deficits in business confidence locally, as well as globally among foreign direct investors – in combine setting of a fresh trajectory for economic growth in the years to come.”

As we look forward to the years ahead, we dream of a ‘new system’– we identify the enshrining of the principles of integrity, unity, equality and an underlying meritocracy as the foundation of creating such a ‘new system.’

He said that Sri Lanka today, is a US$ 90 billion economy and when placed within a set of 10 comparable regional peers, comprising of all SAARC nations plus Indonesia and Malaysia from ASEAN, Sri Lanka’s economy is ranked the 4th smallest in absolute terms.

“Sri Lanka could be proud however, of the fact that we hold a third rank in terms of per-capita GDP and also the highest ranked within SAARC. However, it is a concern that our growth rate of 3.7% is the lowest - that is ranked 10th in this same 10 country set. Moving forward, we need to be concerned about this, which also throws headlights on national competitiveness and the question as to whether Sri Lanka as a private sector have focused sufficiently on building competitive advantages as a pathway to growth.”

“Significantly, our nation today is threatened by the emergence of sinister clouds of extremism and radicalization, which if unabated would fracture the unity and collective momentum of Sri Lanka’s economy. Sri Lanka must look at achieving a 7 to 8% growth within the next 5 Years. Today, 17 committees within the Chamber eco-system are working on bringing together a private sector led action plan towards reaching a US$ 140 billion economy, combined with 7% growth rates and regionally bench marked social development indices by the year 2025.”

“Leading the resurgence as opposed to hoping for brighter externalizes, is the mindset change the private sector would need to undertake in these times of uncertainty.”

“The future of our economy as well as our nation at large, would be what we make of it. We are born to a nation blessed with world class talent. We have in our midst large, medium and small enterprises who in their own right, are global, regional and domestic champions – a private sector which has collectively weathered many waves of economic, political and external turmoil over the past 3 decades and which had on all occasions, bounced back to a trajectory of growth, by creating a foundation for peace and harmony in its wake.”

“We must also lead the way in epitomizing and protecting national unity and harmony. The private sector – large and small have the unique potential to play an exemplary role in espousing the undisputed sensibility of securing national harmony as a fundamental - leaving no room for the embers of irrationality and opportunism disrupt our journey.”

He also said that today, the world in entering an era where the large cannot flourish without the small and it is always more profitable to include rather than exclude. “It is an era where a collective and non-partisan, nation minded and context focused organization such as our Chamber has a very important role to play. It also represents a calling for us to align and exploit these mega trends in the interest of economic and social advancement, based on the fundamental of social equity.”

The Chamber would continue to bring together energy as well as the aspirations of the private sector in articulating our collective vision for the country’s economy and would also enable eco-system linkages across the full spectrum of the economic pyramid, as well as across industry sectors and provide a platform for alignment, dialogue and collaboration with the government.”

“As we move forward in to the 2020 - 25 period, we are no doubt entering an era of exponential change - a period during which we would see a quantum transformation in the foundations of global competitiveness and a phenomenal opportunity for smaller and agile nations.”

The capturing of this opportunity would however need us to exploit with keen awareness, the mega trends, realities and tools of this emerging age. There are 4 transformational trends which I believe would provide us a springboard to leapfrog.

“First, the ethos of Inclusion and the thesis of Inclusive Capitalism, second, the mega trends around the fourth Industrial Revolution. Third, the power of eco-systems and fourth the acceleration of pervasive Globalization.”

Prime Finance PLC in the financial year 2018/19 posted a strong financial performance amidst a challenging business environment. The Company increased its total operating income to Rs. 693 million during the year, reflecting an increase of 114% compared to the last year. The Company recorded a total profit before tax of Rs. 272 million.

The Company’s total asset base depicted a strong growth of 55% closing the year at Rs. 5.7 billion. Growth of earnings per share and net assets per share stands at 518% and 20% respectively. Return on assets (ROA) and return on equity (ROE) are 3.1% and 16% respectively, keeping on par with industry averages. Core capital to risk weighted assets (Tier I) is 27% and total capital to risk weighted assets (Tier I & II) is 28%.

One of the key contributory factors behind this noteworthy success is the unique and sustainable business model which is being enormously backed by the parent Company - Prime Lands Pvt. Ltd, a leader in Sri Lanka for Real Estate Development.

The recently conferred investment grade rating of BBB- (Stable Outlook) by ICRA Lanka (Pvt) Limited was also a blessing, establishing further trust among Funding Institutions and customers as they all have kept their faith with the Company, which had its positive impact in turn, in getting the business volumes expanded.

CEO Rasika Kaluarachchi said, “we do not want to become the market leader, but want to be one of the most stable, modern and efficient companies to satisfy the multi-faceted needs of each of our valuable customers with an unparalleled convenience to them, whose confidence and patronage we value greatly.’’

The results achieved by Prime Finance PLC in the financial year 2018/19 could be viewed as highly creditable. Given the back drop in which the performance of the finance sector should be evaluated; the remarkable growth and profitability numbers of Prime Finance PLC are no doubt quite extraordinary.

This year too, in keeping with the management’s philosophy, the emphasis was on building more value to the benefit of all stakeholders.

Adopting the best governance practices as usual is one of the cornerstones of Prime Finance PLC towards balancing the performance in relation to the sustainability while safeguarding and creating maximum value for all the stakeholders throughout.

Prime Finance PLC is powered by ‘Prime Group’, the largest conglomerate in the Real Estate/Residencies Industry. The Prime Group was awarded the ‘Best Property Developer in 2018,’ rated as one of the ‘25 Great Work Places in Sri Lanka 2018’ for the fourth consecutive year and selected as one of ‘Asia’s 100 Greatest Brands’.

Prime Finance PLC offers its ever-growing clientele with an extensive, comprehensive and individualized array of services under one stop-shop concept in order to meet all financial needs - be it a Fixed Deposit, Business loan, Leasing, Educational Loan, Housing loan, Real Estate etc.

RIOCOCO Sri Lanka selected as a growing media supplier for high-tech Greenhouse in Japan, became the first country in the world to build the most high-tech Greenhouse. SARA greenhouse was built in Kasaoka city in Japan and it is the largest single site advance glass greenhouse

project with the latest technology available in the world to grow tomatoes, bell peppers and butter head lettuce. This project involves operations of advanced greenhouse horticulture and biomass power plant. The cost per acre to build this greenhouse is 5 times higher than the per acre cost of the normal high-tech greenhouse. SARA developed a new climate control system for semi-closed greenhouse settings, while the next important thing was to select a suitable growing media, which could pair with the climate control system.

Susantha Shan Halamba, Chairman and CEO of the RIOCOCO Lanka (Pvt) Ltd receiving the award

World leading growing media supplies presented their products and finally the management of SARA, Inc. decided to work exclusively with one of the world’s leading Sri Lankan origin RIOCOCO brand coir growing medium. This is a great and unique opportunity for RIOCOCO to prove that they are the market leader in coir growing media brands in the world and to win a recognition for Sri Lanka as a country to be a part of the Japan’s most high-tech greenhouse operation.

The opening ceremony was held in the Kasaoka city greenhouse premises on June 21 and invitees from the Government of Japan, local government and business partners participated at the ceremony.

At the end of the ceremony, Susantha Shan Halamba, Chairman and CEO of the RIOCOCO Lanka (Pvt) Ltd., in Sri Lanka and the Ceyhinz Link International, Inc, in Texas, USA, presented the Sri Lankan flag to display inside the greenhouse and he appreciated the management of SARA for giving this great opportunity to RiOCOCO to be a part of the prestigious project. This was the first time “Made in Sri Lanka” coir growing medium product was selected to be used in a most hi-tech greenhouse complex in the world. RIOCOCO coir growing medium products are sold in 52 countries worldwide and it was the only Sri Lankan based company, who was awarded the world most prestigious international business award, the Stevie Gold Award in USA.

Kagome, the largest multi-greenhouse company in Japan also uses RIOCOCO growing media to grow their Disney brand tomatoes throughout Japan since 2006. This is also a very rare opportunity a Sri Lankan based company achieved in Japan to work with a billion-dollar Japanese conglomerate over 13 years and help them to make their product as No 1 tomato grade in the Japanese market.

The slump in international capacity created by the grounding of Jet AirwaysNSE -3.32 % has led to a steep rise in overseas airfares, said executives at airlines and travel companies.

Flights to destinations such as London, New York and Toronto have seen the biggest increase. For instance, fares on the Mumbai-New York route rose as much as 157% between March and June, according to data compiled by travel portal Cleartrip.

Jet Airways suspended all operations on April 17, having run out of money to operate, although it had been cancelling flights all year before that. Until December, it operated close to 120 daily international flights, which contributed about 60% of its revenue. The abrupt stoppage had meant that some planes were unable to make their scheduled trips back to India.

“There has been a major decline in capacity, especially in the medium-to-long haul sectors and we have seen a significant spurt in pricing,” said Rakshit Desai, managing director at FCM Travel Solutions, a corporate travel company. “Sectors such as Mumbai-London, where Jet had as many as three daily flights, have been deeply affected. Leisure travellers, especially those booked on Jet earlier, have suffered the most as they have had to rebook their flights at the last minute at steep prices.”

The sharpest rise has come in upper class ticket fares, he said. “It has been difficult to get tickets — business class fares on almost every long-haul sector have more than doubled,” said a top executive at a low-fare carrier. The ministry of civil aviation last week gave away close to 400 international arrival and departure slots to Jet’s rivals.

The other half were allocated to low-fare carriers led by market leader IndiGoNSE -1.60 %. The government has done the same with Jet’s domestic slots. Local fares too have been rising after Jet’s grounding of flights. But there will be some moderation in these after rivals add capacity to fill the gap.

Experts said it won’t be the same for international routes. Low-fare carriers operate to short-haul destinations such as those in the Gulf and Southeast Asia. Air India, itself cashstrapped, has had to ground several planes for lack of spares and will find it difficult to quickly add capacity to capture Jet’s market. Foreign carriers, except in the case of the US and UK, are constrained by bilateral agreements. www.economictimes.com

Sri Lanka is making a renewed attempt to leverage its geographic advantage in the East-West shipping route, this time as a boat builder and marine tourism destination under the National Export Strategy. The five-year plan formally launched in July 2018, identifies boat building and its related services as one of the five key industries to expand Sri Lanka’s export basket and increase export earnings to US$ 28 billion by 2022.

Boat & ship building is a leading industry and an emerging export sector, offering a wide variety of products and services to international markets. This industry is a multi-billion rupee industry and Sri Lanka should take full use of this emerging trend before losing the competitive advantage to other countries.

A section of the participants

Sri Lanka has the capacity to build and operate boats for yacht chartering and nautical activities. Further, foreign yachts could come to Sri Lankan water and anchor and spend a few days in the country as we have attractive on shore activities such as Whale/Dolphin watching, scuba diving, leisure fishing, snorkeling, windsurfing, kite surfing and many more around the country throughout the year.

In order to capitalize on the capabilities of the sector, it is important to create an enabling environment for the sector.

One of the main pre-requisites for the development of the sector is to have a proper regulatory framework for the entire value chain and infrastructure facilities, such as berthing (anchorages/marinas), launching and testing (slipways/launching pads) and dock facilities for repairing purposes.

Further, there is no proper mechanism to monitor the leisure craft operations in the country and to register visiting yachts to the country. Lack of such facilities are the main hurdles for development of this sector.

Having identified the importance of development of this future visionary sector for the economic development of the country, the Government allocated funds in the National Budget 2018 to develop infrastructure facilities and a regulatory framework for the sector.

EDB and Ministry of Development Strategies & International Trade has initiated the development of infrastructure facilities and identified suitable lands in Kapparathota (Weligama) to facilitate existing manufacturers to expand their production processes and for berthing, launching and testing (slipways/launching pads). The feasibility of constructing a breakwater in Kapparathota (Weligama), is being studied at present.

Keeping in line with the Budget proposal 2018, EDB, the Ministry of Development Strategies & International Trade, Ministry of Ports & Shipping, Merchant Shipping Secretariat and Industry, commenced work on the development of the Regulatory Framework for the Boat Building Industry by obtaining the services of M/S Lloyds Register Marine, covering the entire value chain of the industry.

The Consultant had a series of meetings with relevant government and private sector industry stakeholders to obtain their views on the development of the regulatory framework before drafting the regulatory framework. Also keeping in line with the comprehensive Terms of Reference (TOR), all relevant regulations, legislations in force were examined carefully.

The first draft of the regulatory framework complied by the consultant and a workshop, was held on June 21, 2019, at the EDB with the participation of relevant Government and private sector stakeholders, including the Ministry of Ports & Shipping, Ministry of Industry & Commerce, Merchant Shipping Secretariat, Ministry of Fisheries, boat manufacturers, boat operators etc., to further improve and finalize the draft by obtaining inputs from relevant stakeholders.

The day long workshop included a presentation of the draft regulatory framework to cover Registration, Regulation and Technical guidelines for all boat categories manufactured in Sri Lanka (other than fishing boat category), Leisure craft operations in the country and for visiting yachts/crafts to Sri Lanka and imports of boats to Sri Lanka.

Draft regulatory framework would be revisited and updated with the inputs of the relevant stakeholders before finalizing. Once the regulatory framework is in place, it would ensure the smooth operation of boat building and boating industry, fulfilling an important pre-requisites for development of the industry.

OPPO launched RENO 10x Zoom Sri Lanka - part of OPPO’s new flagship RENO series, which garnered much global buzz recently.

The biggest highlight of the OPPO RENO 10x Zoom is of course its 10x lossless hybrid optical zoom, a fact that is within the name of the smartphone. OPPO RENO 10x Zoom also has the pivot-rising selfie camera, another highlight of the smartphone.

OPPO RENO 10x Zoom is available in Jet Black and Ocean Green colour variants. To recall, the OPPO RENO 10x Zoom was first launched in China last month, and then launched in Europe earlier this month alongside OPPO RENO 5G.

The OPPO RENO 10X Zoom runs ColorOS 6 based on Android Pie. Further, the new phone also have HyperBoost performance enhancements, including Game Boost 2.0 acceleration engine with Frame Boost and Touch Boost accelerations to enhance mobile gaming experiences.

There is a 3D curved glass protection to omit camera bumps. There is also an O-Dot ceramic point at the back of the phones to slight left the camera when placed on a flat Surface. This helps to protect the lens to some extent. Moreover, the OPPO phones have an ultrasonic in-display fingerprint sensor featuring a ‘Shark Fin’ pivot-risingselfie camera design.

The OPPO RENO 10x Zoom comes with a 6.6-inch panoramic AMOLED display. The smartphone is powered by an octa-core Snapdragon 855 SoC, paired with 8GB RAM options.

In terms of optics, the OPPO RENO 10x Zoom has a triple rear camera setup that includes a 48-megapixel Sony IMX586 (0.5-inch) sensor along with an f/1.7 lens and laser autofocus. The camera setup also comprises a 13-megapixel secondary sensor with a periscope telephoto lens on top and an 8-megapixel tertiary sensor with a super wide-angle lens.

Huawei offers special prices on the new Huawei Y series coupled with attractive packages from Dialog and Mobitel.

The offer is valid for the HuaweiY9 2019, Y6 Pro 2019, and Y5 Lite. The Huawei New Y series comes with a full view display and an eye-catching front view, available in a range of unique colors.

Through the offer the Huawei Y5 Lite is available for a price with an additional Cashback offer by Dialog.

Additionally, Huawei customers can purchase the Huawei Y6 Pro 2019 with free talk time and a data bundle offered by Mobitel, while the Y9 2019 is available for an astonishing price.

The series has been highly praised by global reviewers for its multi-tasking abilities, high performance. The New HUAWEI Y series devices have the largest battery power on each range than its competitors. Y5 Lite and Y7 Pro 2019 both come with a 3020mAh battery, enabling users to utilize them for a longer period of time while the mobile phones deliver its best performance.

The AI feature of the new Y series is expressly beneficial to users as it comprises of a fast and secure face unlock that facilitates unlocking even in low light conditions. This facial recognition ensures high-level security to guard against photo and video intrusion. Additionally, the Y9 2019 camera also features an AI scene recognition where the camera automatically studies and optimizes the object or scene it has been focused on in real time.

Commenting on the special Midyear deals Huawei Device Sri Lanka Country Head Peter Liu said, “This mid-year deal allows more customers to experience and own the unique New Y series embracing superior technology and unmatched user experience.We welcome all smartphone enthusiasts across Sri Lanka to avail this exciting offer by visiting all Huawei experience centers, Singer and selected Dialog and Mobitel outlets.”

In Sri Lanka, HUAWEI has succeeded in securing the number one position in smartphone sales according to recent GfK reports.

Sri Lanka’s insurance industry expansion is likely to moderate in the near term, based on Fitch Ratings’ expectations of slower motor-insurance premium growth due to sustained tax rises on imported vehicles, intense price competition in the non-life market and a slower recovery in economic activity.

However, long-term momentum should be helped by Sri Lanka’s low insurance penetration, rising awareness of insurance and a gradual increase in the contribution from non-motor lines, such as property, health and micro insurance. Industry premiums rose by 13% in 2018, moderating from 15% in 2017, due to the slower growth of motor premiums, delays in renewing the state-sponsored health insurance policy for school children and subdued consumer affordability affecting life-insurance growth. What to Watch Profitability Pressure: Fitch expects Sri Lanka’s weakened currency and the higher tax liabilities of life insurers to cut insurers’ net profit in the near term.

The rupee depreciated by around 19% against the US dollar in 2018, which increased the claims paid by non-life insurers, particularly in relation to the higher cost of imported automotive components.

 In addition, life insurance surpluses were taxed at an effective rate of 28% from April 2018; most life insurers paid lower taxes under the previous tax regime due to a lower tax base. Catastrophe Risk: We expect the increased frequency of weather-related events to remain the main source of long-term risk to non-life insurers’ capital.

However, most non-life insurers continue to moderate volatility in their profitability by using reinsurance protection and maintaining risk-based capitalisation ratios above the 120% regulatory minimum. Softer Investment Yields: The Central Bank of Sri Lanka imposed an interest-rate cap on bank deposits in April 2019.

This was followed by a 50bp cut in policy rates in May 2019 to stimulate economic growth. We expect this to somewhat increase insurers’ reinvestment risk, especially for non-life insurers with short portfolio duration. Continued M&A Activity: We regard Sri Lanka’s non-life market as crowded and ripe for consolidation due to intense price competition, which has kept the industry’s combined ratio high at around 100% in recent years.

There have been four M&As since 2014. Ratings Impact: Neutral Fitch expects the credit profiles of rated insurers to remain stable in the near term, supported by sustained capitalisation and financial performance.

Fitch Ratings’ expectation of continued pressure on banks’ financial profiles due to the challenging operating environment as reflected in our negative outlook on the sector is being borne out in their results.

Heightened risks, largely on the macro front, are being manifested in the form of a sharp rise in non-performing loans (NPLs). The operating environment is of high importance to the ratings of Sri Lankan banks, and acts as a constraint on the Viability Ratings of some banks.

Slower Loan Growth: Our expectation is for loan growth to decelerate in 2019 (down by 0.4% in 1Q19) on muted private-sector credit demand. Loan growth remained subdued through 9M18 at 13%, but closed at 19.6% for 2018, due largely to increased state borrowings. Three large state banks contributed about half of the incremental lending in 2018 (2017: 42%).

NPLs Rising: We expect asset-quality pressures to linger in 2019, as seen in the increasing share of restructured loans across Fitch-rated banks.

Sector NPLs grew by 64% in 2018 – the sharpest increase since the pawning debacle in 2013 – driving the sector NPL ratio to 3.4% (2017: 2.5%).

This trend continued in 1Q19, with the sector NPL ratio rising further to 4.2% broadly in line with our expectations for 2019. The adoption of SLFRS 9 saw loan-loss allowances/gross loans increase to 3.7% (2017: 3%). Profits Subdued: Pressure on profitability is likely to remain in 2019 from rising credit costs, with SLFRS 9 implementation and weaker asset quality. In addition, the debt-recovery levy imposed in late 2018 should push effective tax rates for the Fitch-rated banks even higher (2018: 49%, 2017: 44%), squeezing profits further.

As announced to the CSE by the Bank, its major shareholder Culture Financial Holdings Limited, through which TPG-the US based investment giant holds 70% of Union Bank shares, has informed that they will not accept the offer to repurchase their shares, thus affirming its continued commitment towards the future progress of the Bank.

Union Bank announced a share repurchase offer which openedThursday, June 27, and is scheduled to close on July 11, 2019. The share repurchase of up to a maximum of 7,851,844 ordinary shares from its shareholders at the price of Rs. 15 per shares, amounting to a maximum distribution of Rs.117,777,660 was approved by shareholders at an extraordinary general meeting convened by the Bank on June 11, 2019.

The offer is made by the Bank with the intention of improving the price of the Bank’s shares to reflect its true underlying value and consequently improve the returns to the shareholders.

As per applicable law, the said offer is made to all shareholders of the Bank, on a pro rata basis. Accordingly, the offer will be made on the basis of one ordinary share for every 139 ordinary shares held by each shareholder.

Where a shareholder does not accept the offer or accepts the offer only in part, the Bank will re-purchase additional shares from any shareholder who tenders shares over and above their pro rata entitlement for repurchase by the Bank (on a pro-rata basis) up to the aforesaid maximum number of shares that the Bank intends to re-purchase.

Union Bank has been making steady progress as a fully-feldged commercial Bank over the years, having embarked on an accelerated growth strategy since the acqusition by the US investment giant TPG in the year 2014.

The Sri Lanka Association of Software Services Companies (SLASSCOM) together with Amazon Web Services (AWS) launched its knowledge and skills mission to train 50,000 students in the country by 2022 .

The initiative is driven through the ‘AWS Educate’ global program with the intention of positioning Sri Lanka as a hub for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (AI) skills. It also helps education institutes of Sri Lanka to start Degree programs with enhanced curriculum, provide access to virtual Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning (AI/ML) labs and High Performance Computing (HPC) on the cloud to accommodate higher study programs and research initiatives.

SLASSCOM will assists AWS to partner with both state and private Universities to create labs, to access the AWS cloud platform and establish a computer system to train the trainers.

AWS Educate provides students and educators with the resources needed to accelerate cloud related learning and to empower the workforce of tomorrow.

The education curriculum of the program is constantly updated based on the demand and customer requests and is available free of charge for the students. There are over 2,400 institutions worldwide that uses AWS Educate program and over 100,000 students that enroll and get educated.This is an optional module provided by the AWS for Universities to integrate it to their curriculum. Through AWS Educate, students will gain the chance to use AWS services and tools, learning contents and hands on activities designed to help students gain practical experience in learning the basics of cloud computing, gain access to 12 cloud carrier pathways covering in – demand topics such as ML, cyber security and software development and the AWS Educate Job Board with job and internship opportunities from Amazon and other companies in the AWS partner network. For people and businesses to succeed, skills are of vital importance and they should be modified as per the advancing requirements. “The availability of skills defines the growth of platforms,” said President, Public sector Amazon Internet Services Private Limited, Rahul Sharma.

The new Commissioner General of Inland Revenue, Nadun Guruge recently highlighted the important role Chartered Accountants can play in ensuring an effective and efficient tax system in the country.

Speaking at the felicitation ceremony organized by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka (CA Sri Lanka) in his honor, Guruge who assumed duties as the 33rd Commissioner General also noted that it was not an easy task to have an effective tax system which provides smooth revenue enhancement.

“This is a challenging task which can only be achieved with the support of all stakeholders, including qualified accountants. Therefore, I urge you all to help the department to implement an effective and efficient tax system which will strengthen the economy of Sri Lanka,” he told the audience.

The Board of Investment of Sri Lanka recently signed a supplementary agreement with J and D Venture (Pvt) Limited.

The agreement was signed on behalf of the BOI by Mangala Yapa, Chairman of the Board and on behalf of company by Seong Eun Lee and Seok Ok Jang, Directors.

Jeong Ho Lee and Seok Ok Jang invested in Sri Lanka as BOI projects, Da-Sung Industrial (Pvt) Limited and Jin-Sung Industrial (Pvt) Limited in 1993. They were pioneers of manufacturing woven labels in Sri Lanka.

As operations started to grow, they invested in several other BOI projects manufacturing hand-tags, screen printing and embroidery garments. Under this agreement, the company will be manufacturing packing and display items made of printed unprinted value-added die-cut corrugated cartons.

They will also manufacture garment accessories such as stickers and body cards for export at their existing plant which is located in Katuwawala, Boralesgamuwa. The global paper packaging market is valued at $265.34 billion in 2018. By 2025, it is estimated to reach $383.94 billion, growing at a CAGR of 5.42%. Growing consumer awareness for sustainable packaging and increasing environmental concerns are some of the factors favouring the market growth.

Even many countries are pushing for paper packaging products over plastic packaging, which poses a significant threat to the environment.

“Our countries have gone through similar modern histories, especially the fact that both have had to recover from an economically debilitating civil war. South Korea, like Sri Lanka moved to propagate the manufacturing sector as a means to pull themselves out from hard times and become more economically self-sufficient.

Even today, manufacturing alone accounts for about 40% of South Korea’s GDP and is extremely important for nations that are looking to develop their respective economies. I strongly hope to support the process of strengthening Sri Lanka’s manufacturing sector by implementing some of the economic strategies that were used in South Korea and help Sri Lanka’s wider economic ecosystem in the process,” said Seong Eun Lee

The rumors and false news spread by certain political representatives at the moment regarding the agreements that are to be signed with America will vitally affect the operation of them and would in turn hinder the development of the nation, Minister of Finance, Mangala Samaraweera said yesterday in Colombo.

“The Acquisition and Cross-Services Agreement (ACSA) and Status Of Forces Agreement (SOFA) are not new agreements but we only have to renew them. These agreements were signed in 2007 and 1997 respectively. However, the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) agreement which was not able to be signed earlier due to the political issues that aroused, is a new agreement which will be signed as soon as possible,” he said.

The Minister stressed the fact that through the MCC agreement, Sri Lanka will be able to obtain a grant of USD 480 million which could be used to carry out projects spanning for five years.

The government has planned to spend USD 50 million to modernize the bus transport, USD 140 million to develop the delivery of agricultural products, USD 100 million to develop the transport industry and the rest to set up a Land Ownership Office and to deal with land related issues.

Been a middle income country, grants are not easily rewarded to Sri Lanka, but due to the cordial relationship between the two countries America was generous enough to provide this. America is the single biggest trading partner of the country which accounts for exports over USD 3,000 million out of a total of USD 11,666 million. Also in order to make Sri Lanka a technology hub in the Indian Ocean, the technology in America needs to be shared. Thus the trade relations between the two countries are crucial and he said that there is a high chance that fake news against America would disrupt these and ultimately it is the general public that will be affected.

“Due to the commitment of the government, Sri Lanka was able to regain the global support, but if political conflicts of this kind develop then the entire nation would face the loss,” he added.

Expolanka Holdings PLC participated at the bell ringing ceremony to celebrate the company’s inclusion in the S&P SL 20 index, as part of the 2019 mid-year index rebalance. The event took place at the CSE Trading Floor in Colombo.

Speaking at the event, Jagath Pathirana, Chief Administrative Officer Expolanka Holdings said that Expolanka started off its operation in Sri Lanka in 1979 and since then the company has extended its portfolio to 20 plus companies, registering a faster growth. The Company was listed on the main board of the Colombo Stock exchange via an initial public offering in 2011.

“We are truly a global Sri Lankan company with presence in 19 countries across four continents. About 90% of the PAT comes from the freight and logistics cluster, contributing immense scope for company to grow beyond Sri Lankan boarders,” Pathirana said.

Speaking further, he said that the main intention of the company was to double the revenues and as well as the bottom-line and the company has managed to achieve these targets successfully in the recent past.

“The Growth has been consistent and our potential has been seen by the investors as well as interested parties,” Pathirana said.

Expolanka currently employs about 2,900 employees, of which it has about 1,000 employees in Sri Lanka .Furthermore, Expolanka is contributing to the economy in a big way, thereby bringing the much needed net foreign earnings to the country.

He further said that the company has embarked on a journey where it will give sustenance to the environment requirements and sustainability.

In order to make a responsible commitment to the well-being of the environment, Expolanka has given prominence to sustainability aspects as far as its business operations are concerned, while adapting to the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

The Talawakelle Tea Estates PLC Managing Director, Dr. Roshan Rajadurai which won the 2018 award, said that the NBEA awards gave them a lot of recognition not only locally but internationally as well for their company.

He said that they now have 60 plantation companies and which employees over 25, 000 staff but they look after around 150,000 people who are immediate family members of their employees. “We look after them from womb to tomb providing all facilities,” he said. We were also one of the first companies to introduce a profit sharing model to our employees.

Commenting on the industry he said that they are facing a challenging period paying the highest salaries to plantation sector in the world amid lowering of global tea prices and high production costs.

The Print Media sponsor for the event once again is Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Limited (Lake House) again.

Meanwhile Chairman Pannel of Judges Sunil Wijesinghe said that the awards for entrepreneurship encourages companies to perform even better next year and look at winning even bigger awards globally.

He said that after World War 2, Japan was economically depleted and were considered a nation of cheap exports.

“However, the government then decided to hire US expert Malcolm Baldrige to design an awards ceremony to recognize Japanese enterprises based on quality, which raised the bar of Japanese goods which also helped the nation to rise to be one of the top performing economies in the world.”

‘The excellence awards framework was then followed by USA.” (SS)

The 16th Annual “National Business Excellence Awards 2019” (NBEA) organized by the National Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka (NCCSL), would be held on December 13, at the Colombo Hilton.

The Print Media sponsor for the event once again is Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Limited (Lake House) again.

This year 92 awards would be presented, including Overall Excellence Winners of Gold, Silver and Bronze.

The official launch of the event was held at the Colombo Hilton and President NCCSL Asela De Livera said that apart from the large companies, they also focus special attention on Small and Medium Entrepreneurs who have done well in their businesses in the country to participate in this competition. “Being one of the pioneering Awards Competitions initiated as way back as 2004 by the NCCSL, the NBEA, over the years, has maintained its highest standard and gained much recognition and prestige amongst the business community. With a well structured Awards Scheme, the NBEA has today become the symbol of “Excellence” for the “Best of the Best” businesses in Sri Lanka.”

Many competitors from Corporate establishments are eager to compete in this very popular Business Excellence Awards Competition which is now a further upgraded Evaluation Model of 7 criteria, namely – Excellence in Leadership, Excellence in Corporate Governance, Excellence in Capacity Building, Excellence in Performance Management, Excellence in Local and Global Market-reach, Excellence in Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Sustainability and Excellence in Business and Financial Results. The numbers and quality of applications have been on the rise over the years. The Competition comprises of categories – Extra Large, Large, Medium, Small and Micro – and diversified industry sectors: it also creates the opportunity for 29 industry sectors to secure Awards, category-wise or on criteria.“The focus is not only to be award winners, but to be associated, gain exposure, recognition and fame, thus promoting the brand image of companies, they represent.”

Many corporate establishments are eager to compete in this very popular Business Excellence Awards Competition with its new evaluation model scheme and criteria.

The evaluations would be done by an eminent panel of Judges backed by a Technical Team.

Business Excellence Awards are meant to reward companies that have excelled in their businesses. Competitions of this nature would encourage Sri Lankan businesses to excel not only at national level, but also compete at global level.

The Chamber’s intention is not only to pick winners, but more importantly, to guide organisations with our evaluation scheme to attain the levels of excellence that are appropriate to world class companies.

We have modified the evaluation scheme over the years to fit in line with the country’s development.

Apart from large companies, we also focus special attention to Small and Medium Entrepreneurs who have done well in their businesses in the country to participate in this competition,” de Livera said.

Recalling the past, he said that the first NBEA Award in 2004 was won by Dialog Telecom PLC. Thereafter Slimline Pvt Ltd (2005) Commercial Bank (2006), Colombo Dockyard (2007), Hatton National Bank (2008), Ceylon Biscuits (2009), Commercial Bank of Ceylon (2010), Diesel & Motor Engineering (2011), Sri Lanka Telecom (2012), Access Engineering (2013), Orange Electric (2014), Bank of Ceylon (2015), Lanka Orix Leasing Company (LOLC) (2016), Lanka IOC PLC (2017) and Talawakelle Tea Estates PLC (2018). (SS)

Business Enterprises are evaluated under a newly structured Evaluation model of 7 perspectives, which are:
1. Excellence in Leadership,
2. Excellence in Corporate Governance,
3. Excellence in Capacity Building,
4. Excellence in Performance Management,
5. Excellence in Local and Global Market Reach,
6. Excellence in Corporate Social Responsibility
7. Environmental Sustainability and Excellence in Business and Financial Results.

Ceylon Tea Brokers PLC reaffirmed its standing as one of the most respected tea brokering companies in Sri Lanka, delivering yet another sterling performance in the financial year ending March 2019, with all key indicators posting outstanding impressions for the financial year ending March 2019.

Net profit recorded a growth of 13.51% over the previous figure, while the gross profits reached Rs.701.59 million, an increase of 17.55% over the previous financial year.

“I’m impressed by the resilience shown during tough times by the CTB team, which continues to deliver outstanding results year after year,” said Crishantha Perera, the Chairman of Ceylon Tea Brokers PLC.

Ceylon Tea Brokers revenue reached Rs.767.64 million, a 17.03% growth over the previous year’s mark of Rs.655.91 million.

Operating profit reached Rs.393.96 million, an increase of 15.30% from the previous year’s Rs.341.67 million.

NDB’s Staff Recreational Club (NDBSRC) organized a Bakthi Gee recital in commemoration of the Poson Festival.

The Bakthi Gee performance was held by the staff members at the Nawam Mawatha Head Office. The music was directed and composed by renowned musician VisharadaTharanga Sampath Amarawansa. The Bakthi Gee recital was held under the patronage of NDB Director and Group CEO Dimantha Seneviratne, senior members of the management and staff who graced the event.

Through the recital the Bank commemorated the religious significance of the Poson Festival.

The NDB Staff Recreational Club organizes such events in order to encourage the Bank’s employees, their spouses and families to be a part of the Bank via its many recreation activities.

The Bank’s ultimate goal is to ensure employee satisfaction to the maximum.

Trendy Hub opened its flagship outlet on Galle Road adjoining Aloe Avenue recently. The opening was attended by clients, and well-wishers and cricketer Mahela Jayawardena as guest of honour.

The collections here find their inspiration from the runways of London, Paris and Milan.

“We want our customers to be excited every time they walk into this store,” says Andrew Perera, shareholder of YNM Trendy Hub (Pvt) Ltd. “Our clothes are sourced from and inspired by the fashion capitals of the world, making this a unique experience for Sri Lankan shoppers.” Trendy Hub first opened its doors in Colombo at the Colombo City Centre (CCC) mall last December. The store has quickly become the go-to for any shopper at CCC- the off-runway looks, affordable tags and the frequency of new collections made for easy, exciting shopping for its clientele.

With the opening of its flagship store in Colpetty, Trendy Hub creates a more luxurious experience with a more intimate and comfortably spacious setting, which is easily accessible to anyone in the city.

NDB’s Staff Recreational Club (NDBSRC) organized a Bakthi Gee recital in commemoration of the Poson Festival.

The Bakthi Gee performance was held by the staff members at the Nawam Mawatha Head Office. The music was directed and composed by renowned musician VisharadaTharanga Sampath Amarawansa. The Bakthi Gee recital was held under the patronage of NDB Director and Group CEO Dimantha Seneviratne, senior members of the management and staff who graced the event.

Through the recital the Bank commemorated the religious significance of the Poson Festival.

The NDB Staff Recreational Club organizes such events in order to encourage the Bank’s employees, their spouses and families to be a part of the Bank via its many recreation activities.

The Bank’s ultimate goal is to ensure employee satisfaction to the maximum.

http://www.dailynews.lk/2019/06/26/finance/189501/trendy-hub-opens-colpetty

The 2019 Daraz Mobile Week commenced on June 24 and offers up to 70% off on selected items in addition to attractive deals.

Daraz’s aim to make every online shopping spree an engaging and memorable experience, continues with Mobile Week. The Mega deals bring the most-wanted deals that have been identified from the past online sales.

The signature Flash sales offer price discounts only for a limited time. The 5 top deals offering crazy low prices for just 2 hours every day during the sale is featured under Crazy deals. Shoppers are encouraged to keep a look out for these deals in order to benefit with prices they would not have dreamt of.

Abans, the authorized distributors for Apple products and Samsung have joined hands with Daraz to offer exclusive discounts on their latest ranges of smartphones. In order to stay updated on the Mobile Week offers for these two brands, users can visit the official Samsung Sri Lanka and Apple Sri Lanka stores at Daraz Mall.

“Daraz Mobile Week is about bringing premium mobile phones to everyone. The assortment of heavily discounted mobiles during the Mobile Week will be generous enough to accommodate everyone’s tastes and needs,” says Rakhil Fernando, the Managing Director of Daraz Sri Lanka.

Not stopping there, Daraz has taken the extra step to award additional discounts to users from payment partners on credit cards. These include a 10% discount on Hatton National Bank, Commercial Bank and Seylan Bank credit cards, and a further 10% off on the special HSBC day, 26 June, for HSBC card holders.

LAUGFS Eco Sri, a pioneer in air quality management in Sri Lanka supported the reforestation efforts of the Wilpattu Nature Reserve in the North East of the Island, marking World Environment Day this year. This was yet another important project by LAUGFS Eco Sri in its commitment towards protecting and preserving the environment for future generations.

This initiative was made possible through a collaboration with the ‘Thuruliya Wenuwen Api’ national tree planting project driven by the Sri Lanka Army. The efforts to reforest Wilpattu was marked by a formal ceremony organized under the leadership of the Commander of the 54th Division, Major General Senerath Bandara, with the Wanni Security Force Headquarters, Major General Kumudu Perera gracing the event as the chief guest.

Earlier this year, Eco Sri initiated a drive to collect 4000 plants among its Vehicle Emissions Testing centres, actively encouraging its employees, customers and local communities to be a part of this project. As a result, 4000 saplings of varying species were handed over to the ‘Thuruliya Wenuwen Api’ program by the LAUGFS Eco Sri Marketing and Project teams led by Saliya Dissanayake, the Head of Operations at the event held on World Environment Day.

Speaking on this momentous occasion, LAUGFS Eco Sri Chief Operating Officer, Bimal Weerasinghe voiced his thoughts, “As Sri Lanka undergoes rapid socio economic development, we must not forget to prevent and mitigate the damage inflicted on our fragile ecosystem. Wilpattu is one such example of this and with our effort, and as a pioneer in air quality management in Sri Lanka, we wanted to ensure that we play an active role in the preservation of this important ecosystem. We are delighted to be able to partner with the ‘Thuruliya Wenuwen Api’ program and extend our thanks to our employees, customers and local communities for taking an active interest and joining hands to support an initiative such as this, which is of national significance.”

LAUGFS Eco Sri, a part of the diversified conglomerate LAUGFS Holdings, is an ISO 9001 certified company that offers vehicle emission testing services backed by state-of-the-art technology.

Dankotuwa Porcelain PLC, renowned for its luxurious and elegant porcelain tablewarerecently introduced its Ivory Grade tableware into the Sri Lankan market. Reputed for its elegant trends, innovations and modern designs in both the local and global markets, the all new Ivory Grade is said to have a premium ivory hue to its designs and is produced without the use of animal bone material keeping to the modern trends of porcelainware.

“We are living in an era where cruelty free ethical business perceptions supersede traditional business practices. Therefore, it is with a sense of pride that we launch Dankotuwa’s Ivory Grade, tableware carefully designed with ivory colour and manufactured to precision without the use of any form of animal material, stated Dr. Sajeeva Narangoda, Chief Executive Officer Dankotuwa Porcelain PLC. “In addition to the special colour, this premium range productis also Lead, Cadmium free and can be dishwash and microwave friendly depending on the designs. Dankotuwa is a familiar and trusted brand to many households here in Sri Lanka and across the world. With the launch of Ivory Grade range of tableware, we have elevated the brand to the next tier, one which is sensitive towards the health and wellbeing of human beings while being cruelty free to animals,” Dr. Narangoda concluded.

Dankotuwa Porcelain PLC, a subsidiary of Ambeon Holdings PLC commenced its commercial operations in 1984. From superior glazing technologies, personalized designs and endless options, the company continues to create timeless and modern collection of porcelain-ware that expresses exclusive dining experience for every occasion. “As a member of the Ambeon Group, Dankotuwa Porcelain as a brand continues its quest for innovation,giving customers value for money in every purchase they make. With the launch of the all-new ‘Ivory Grade by Dankotuwa, the company continues on its winning streak of launching products that consists of timeless designs,” stated Murali Prakash, Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Ambeon Capital PLC and Ambeon Holdings PLC. Being the recipient of the bronze award in the catering products/table top specialties category at the prestigious European Product Design Awards (ePDA) 2017, Dankotuwa Porcelain continues to be a trend setter while taking the world by storm by manufacturing superior quality porcelain tableware for reputed international brands such as Portmeirion, Oneida, Macy’s, Country Road, Lenox, John Lewis, Crate & Barrel, Migros, Jashanmal, Ralph Lauren, the Walt Disney Company and Dilmah.

A green garden, which consists of valuable trees and plants, established in commemoration of the people who have lost their lives by the terrorist attack on April 21, was opened by Ajith Manapperuma, Minister of Mahaweli Development and Environment on June 11, at Diwulapitiya, Pinnakele, under the name, “ManudamUyana”.

This project has been implemented jointly by the Ministry of Mahaweli Development and Environment, Department of Forest Conservation, Sri Lanka Army and National Savings Bank.

Senior Deputy General Manager, Jagath Gamanayake, and the Deputy General Manager (Marketing), Lal Karunathileka joined the event representing National Savings Bank (NSB). The State Secretary for the Ministry of Mahaweli Development and Environment, Mapa Pathirana, Director- Forest Resources, Latheefa P Liyanage, Conservator of Forests, P.A.G.S. Nandakumara and many distinguished guests including high ranking officers of Sri Lanka Army were also present at the occasion.

This project has been launched in parallel to the World Environment Day and in addition, a program is in place to plant trees along the sides of Megoda Kelaniya Road by National Savings Bank under the guidance of Keleniya Raja Maha Vihara.

With a view to contributing to the national and global course of environmental conservation, National Savings Bank has launched the NSB Agroforestry Project under which, 26,000 and 76,000 plants with an economic value have been distributed among the customers respectively on the World Thrift Day in 2017 and 01stJanuary 2019. Further, vegetable seeds were distributed under the theme, “A Picturesque Garden - A Robust Economy” in commemoration of World Thrift Day, 2018 while plants were distributed among the customers in line with the auspicious time declared for planting trees for the Sinhala & Hindu New Year, 2019.

Deforestation is one of the gravest environmental issues that we have encountered during the past few years in Sri Lanka. The current forest cover in the country is approximately 29.7% which needs to be increased to 32% by 2030 and to achieve this target, it is imperative to grow trees in an additional area of 145,000 hectares. National Savings Bank, a premier savings bank in the country, looks forward to ensuring its maximum contribution to achieve this purpose by implementing many more projects of this nature in future to build an evergreen environment for the future generations of the country.

Dell Technologies (NYSE:DELL) is the official Title Sponsor for gaming laptops at the Inter-University Esports Championship held recently in Ratmalana.

The event, hosted by Gamer.LK, in collaboration with Sri Lanka Telecom PLC, was also endorsed by the Sri Lanka Esports Association, the governing body for Esports in Sri Lanka.Dell’s significant involvement has enhanced the development of the gaming community, alongside Dell’s sponsorship of several other events in Sri Lanka, bringing Sri Lanka’s players to the forefront of the gaming industry.

The event saw in attendance several reputable media outlets and key personalities from Sri Lanka’s Esports community. Great buzz and excitement were also generated at the Esports Championship with the unveiling of Dell’s new G-series gaming laptops.

“It is a privilege to contribute to the ever growing and improving Esports industry in Sri Lanka. The launch of a new range of gaming laptops specially catered to users on a budget emphasizes Dell Technologies commitment to the growing Esports market here as well as to gamers on every level,” said Chrishan Fernando, Country Manager, Sri Lanka, Dell Technologies. “With Esports set to become one of the biggest and most popular sports globally, we are delighted to present the latest innovations for the players and enthusiasts in Sri Lanka to hone their gaming skills.

We look forward to continuing to build strong relationships with companies and organizations in the local gaming industry with such sponsorships.” Dell also launched its new gaming laptop series in Sri Lanka at the championship event. For budget friendly users looking for apowerful gaming system or purchasing their first gaming system, look no further than the new G Series. The G5 15 and G7 (in both 15” and 17” models) are redesigned to deliver enhanced performance with upscale features in a sleek chassis.

With beautiful narrow borders, the G5 and G7 incorporate 8th gen Intel CFL-H quad- and hex core processors and the latest NVIDIA graphics to optimize demanding AAA game titles and versatility for everyday use.

In addition to the option of a blazing 144Hz refresh rate and G-SYNC display panels, the G5 and G7 are offering Alienware Command Center and 4-zone RGB keyboard with customizable backlighting for the first time.

The Dell G5 15 Special Edition is also available in Alpine White, with a clear panel on the bottom of the system to show off the blue fans of the cooling system.

President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are both facing intense domestic pressure to de-escalate the trade war between their countries as they prepare to meet on Saturday in Japan.

Trump needsChina to make vast structural changes to its economy while also buying more U.S. farm and manufactured goods. Xi needs Trump to lift the tariffs he has put on Chinese imports. With the economic strain mounting on both sides, the two are widely expected to use the G-20 summit in Osaka as an opportunity to start talking again after negotiations broke off abruptly in May

In one sign of a thaw, Robert Lighthizer and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He spoke by phone on Monday. Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin are expected to meet with their Chinese counterparts in Osaka before Trump and Xi meet.

“President Trump likes deals, so he might agree to something,” said Matthew Goodman, a former White House international economics adviser during the Obama administration, who now is at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “More likely is that they will agree to a truce, and to restart talks, and in a time-limited way, try to come to some sort of deal within three months, let’s say.” In a briefing call with reporters on Monday, a senior administration official said Trump is “comfortable with any outcome” of the meeting with Xi because the U.S. is in a strong position. But Trump’s trade war is facing mounting criticism at home. The U.S. government has collected billions of dollars of additional tariff revenue, but that barely has made a dent in the nation’s skyrocketing budget deficit as a result of Trump’s tax cuts and increased federal spending. Farmers are hurting, with farm exports to China projected to plunge to $6 billion this year from $26 billion during the Obama administration. And U.S. retailers including Walmart and Macy’s are warning of price hikes if Trump moves forward with a plan to impose a 25 percent tax on almost all remaining Chinese goods. “I think Trump has painted himself into a corner on this,” said Bill Reinsch, a trade policy expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Since China is unlikely to make the sort of sweeping reforms the administration is demanding, “eventually Trump is going to figure out his choice is between a weak agreement and escalating the trade war.” Xi is not under the same reelection pressure as the leader of a country with a long history of authoritarian rulers, Reinsch said. “It’s not a market economy. I think they can outlast us,” Reinsch said. Chinese officials on Monday stressed the need for both sides to compromise. “We should meet each other halfway, which means that both sides will need to compromise and make concessions, and not just one side,” Wang Shouwen, China’s vice minister of Commerce and a top deputy on the negotiating team, said during a press briefing. (www.politico.com)

At least three local private banks suffered major cyber attacks last month, raising concern about the robustness of their security systems against a growing threat of scammers.

Of the three, Dutch Bangla Bank Limited (DBBL) was the biggest victim, losing as much as $3 million (around Tk 25 crore) to global cybercriminals, according to sources in the banking sector.

Two other banks -- NCC Bank and Prime Bank -- also faced cyberattacks, but they claimed they were able to avert financial losses.

This was the biggest cyberattack after hackers made off with $81 million from Bangladesh Bank’s account with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York around three and a half years ago.

Following last month’s cyberattack, the BB formed an eight-member committee to probe the matter. Intelligence agencies are also investigating it separately.

The latest incident has created worries in the country’s banking sector as it was different from the past incidents of hacking.

Usually, hackers use malware to steal customer data from a bank’s server and then use that information to clone credit and debit cards. But in the case of the DBBL, hackers planted a malware in the bank’s switch (card management system) around three months ago and made a perfect replica of the switch, which the bank could not detect.

When hackers went for transactions last month, the proxy or the shadow switch gave instructions to release funds, keeping the bank completely in the dark.

Hackers made off with around $3 million between May 1 and 3 from cash machines in Cyprus, Russia and Ukraine. Hackers used credit cards and Personal Identification Numbers (PINs) of the DBBL to steal the money.

The DBBL came to know about the fraud when Visa, a global payment solution provider, asked it to settle payments for transactions made by the bank’s “clients” in Cyprus. Initially, the bank refused to pay as its server didn’t show any of the transactions. Then Visa came up with “solid proof”, and the bank was compelled to pay, said sources in the DBBL.

The DBBL reported the matter to the BB which held two meetings with the heads of IT, retail banking and card divisions of all banks in the middle of last month to discuss the issue.

Around a couple of weeks later, the DBBL’s nine ATMs fell prey to an international hacker group that stole around Tk 16 lakh on May 31. Law enforcers later arrested six Ukrainians in connection with the theft.

A senior BB official, who attended the meetings last month, said the latest incident of cyber attack is a matter of concern for all banks as it exposed vulnerabilities in their cyber security controls.

“It can happen to any bank if it doesn’t protect its IT system with updated software and anti-virus,” the official told The Daily Star, seeking anonymity.

(www.thedailystar.net)

The University of Hong Kong (HKU)’s Asian Institute of International Financial Law (AIIFL), hosted a seminar on the rise of Security Token Offering (STO) and an increasing global interest in Real Estate Tokenization (RET).

The Fintech Association of Sri Lanka (FASL) President and Ambuli International (a consultancy firm focusing on the applications of blockchain, cloud computing, artificial intelligence and big data in the financial and other sectors), Founder & CEO Rajkumar Kanagasingam participated and made a presentation, while HKU’s Kerry Holdings Professor in Law, Douglas Arner chaired the Seminar.

STO landscapes of Hong Kong, Singapore and Sri Lanka and the opportunities and challenges in digitalizing real estate’s investment in the region, were also discussed at the seminar.

Real Estate Tokenization would lower investor barriers by increasing the liquidity of real estate assets. It would also have the security and immutability of a Blockchain-based token.

For Sri Lanka, one consideration would be how one could use the STO structure to support investment from overseas investors in the local real estate projects.