ODEL, department store chain, announced its partnership with MAS Holdings as the official launching partner of the prestigious ICC Cricket World Cup Sri Lanka Jersey to be worn by the Sri Lanka team this year.

“We are proud to be the official launching partner of this iconic jersey which portrays the Sea Turtle, an endangered species whose habitat is the coastline of Sri Lanka. The jersey is made up entirely of recycled plastic sea waste by MAS Holding, who partnered with the Sri Lanka Navy in collecting the plastic waste from the coasts of Sri Lanka in what is truly a groundbreaking project”, said Group Director Marketing Softlogic PLC, Desiree Karunaratne.

“The ODEL brand has always supported sports and fitness in Sri Lanka via exclusive partnerships with schools as well as local sports clubs whilst also supporting the environment through many projects that involve environmental conservation and wildlife protection”.

Being the forerunner in active wear and sportswear in Sri Lanka, ODEL has always gone that extra mile to offer its clients the latest and most up to date sports and active wear in the country by regularly introducing key global sports brands to the market.

MAS Holdings, through its pioneering sustainability initiative ‘Ocean Plastics’, implemented in partnership with the Sri Lanka Navy, Eco Spindles and Sri Lanka Cricket, has successfully upcycled waste plastic recovered from the beaches of Sri Lanka, to produce the official jerseys to be worn by Sri Lanka’s national cricket team during the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019. Ten Plastic bottles are recycled in to producing one T-Shirt, whose design portrays the Sea Turtle, endangered due to marine plastic pollution.

“Through this alliance, MAS is contributing towards establishing a long-term solution for the pressing marine pollution issue, which threatens the coastal belt of Sri Lanka. Business Director at MAS Active, Rashmika Peiris said.

The Bourse ended the week on a positive note as the ASPI increased by 35.40 points (or +0.67%) to close at 5,295.11 points, while the S&P SL20 Index also increased by 17.27 points (or +0.71%) to close at 2,464.17 points.

JKH was the highest contributor to the week’s turnover value, contributing LKR 0.20Bn or 24.84% of total turnover value. LOLC Holdings followed suit, accounting for 10.99% of turnover (value of LKR 0.09Bn) while Dialog Axiata contributed LKR 0.08Bn to account for 9.62% of the week’s turnover. Total turnover value amounted to LKR 0.83Bn (cf. last week’s value of LKR 3.08Bn), while daily average turnover value amounted to LKR 0.21Bn (-66.56% W-o-W) compared to last week’s average of LKR 0.62Bn. Market capitalization meanwhile, increased by 0.74% W-o-W (or LKR +18.32Bn) to LKR 2,493.67Bn cf. LKR 2,475.35Bn last week.

Liquidity (in Value Terms)

The Banks, Finance & Insurance sector was the highest contributor to the week’s total turnover value, accounting for 34.93% (or LKR 0.29Bn) of market turnover. Sector turnover was driven primarily by LOLC Holdings, Seylan Bank[NV], Sampath Bank, Commercial Bank & HNB which accounted for 73.39% of the sector’s total turnover. The Diversified sector meanwhile accounted for 27.72% (or LKR 0.23Bn) of the total turnover value, with turnover driven primarily by JKH which accounted for 89.62% of the sector turnover.

The Manufacturing sector was also amongst the top sectorial contributors, contributing 13.38%(or LKR 0.11) to the total turnover, with turnover driven primarily by Chevron Lubricants accounting for 68.90% of the total turnover.

Liquidity (in Volume Terms)

The Banks, Finance & Insurance sector dominated the market in terms of share volume, accounting for 21.57% (or 8.89Mn shares) of total volume, with a value contribution of LKR 0.29Bn. The Telecom sector followed suit, adding 21.41% to total turnover volume as 8.83Mn shares were exchanged. The sector’s volume accounted for LKR 0.08Bn of total market turnover value. The Beverage, Food & Tobacco sector meanwhile, contributed 5.46Mn shares (or 13.24%), amounting to LKR 0.05Bn.

Top Gainers & Losers | Lucky Lanka[NV] was the week’s highest price gainer; increasing 100.0% W-o-W from LKR0.50 to LKR1.00 while Lucky Lanka(+88.9% W-o-W), Office Equipment(+19.9% W-o-W) and Lankem Ceylon (+19.3% W-o-W) were also amongst the top gainers. On’ally were the week’s highest price loser; declining 80.0% W-o-W to close at LKR20.0 while Beruwala Resorts(-16.7% W-o-W), Multi Finance (-14.1% W-o-W) and Kandy Hotels(-10.9% W-o-W) were also amongst the top losers over the week.

Foreign investors closed the week in a net selling position with total net outflow amounting to LKR 0.15Bn relative to last week’s total net outflow of LKR 1.32Bn (+88.5% W-o-W). Total foreign purchases decreased by 86.7% W-o-W to LKR 0.10Bn from last week’s value of LKR 0.72Bn, while total foreign sales amounted to LKR 0.25Bn relative to LKR 2.04Bn recorded last week (-87.9% W-o-W). In terms of volume, LOLC Finance & Tess Agro led foreign purchases while Dialog & Chevron Lubricants led foreign sales. In terms of value, Lion Brewery & Sampath Bank led foreign purchases while Chevron Lubricants & Dialog Axiata led foreign sales.

Point of View

Sri Lankan equity markets recovered from a last week’s almost 7-year low as investor sentiment improved amid the EPF’s return to equity markets and signs of normalization in the country’s security situation. The CBSL Governor stated last Friday that the state-run private sector pension fund, the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF), has returned to the market due to low valuations stemming from the prevailing depressed market conditions, adding that the Monetary Board has approved the Investment Committee to invest up to 6% (cf. 3.3% at end-2018) of the Rs. 2.3trillion fund in select companies.

The positive sentiment surrounding the return of the EPF coupled with the collection of cheap stocks by local investors supported the market uptick during the week and the broadshare ASPI gained ~46 index points by the end of trading on Thursday. Selling pressure on Friday however led to the ASPI paring down some of its earlier gains, and the Index’s ~11 points on Friday, snapped 5-consecutive days of gains on the index. The gain in the benchmark index over the full week consequently reduced to ~35 points or 0.7% W-o-W. Activity levels on the Colombo Bourse meanwhile slumped during the holiday-shortened week, with turnover falling to a low of Rs. 0.08Bn on Wednesday (since Jan’19) despite the CBSL Governor’s indication that there is a “strong case for relaxing monetary policy”.

Lower market participation this week amid an anticipated economic slowdown led the average daily turnover for the week to drop to Rs. 0.21Bn (-67% W-o-W), well below the YTD average daily turnover of Rs. 0.55Bn.

HNI and Institutional investor interest in JKH (61% of crossings) and LOLC Holdings (39% of crossings) meanwhile contributed 28% to the week’s total turnover. Meanwhile the Foreign investor sell-off on domestic equities eased during the week helping reduce the net foreign outflow over the week to Rs. 0.15Bn cf. to last week’s substantial net outflow of Rs. 1.32Bn.

The YTD net foreign outflow consequently rose to Rs. 5.9Bn in sharp contrast to the net foreign outflow of Rs. 1.6Bn during the same period last year.

Markets in the week ahead are likely look for cues both from ongoing economic and politcal developments and from the incoming corporate earnings releases for Q1’19.

Inflation uptick continues in April

National inflation levels rose to its highest since January last year, increasing from 2.9% Y-o-Y in Mar’19 to 3.6% Y-o-Y in Apr’19.

The rise in headline inflation was largely driven by an increase Non-food inflation which continued upward for a fourth consecutive months while food inflation also rose over the month.

The increase in non-food inflation of 7.5% Y-o-Y in Apr’19 relative to 7.1% Y-o-Y in Mar’19 WAS due to higher prices in i) alcoholic beverages, tobacco & narcotics, and ii) transport costs including purchase of vehicles and airline fares.

Higher food prices meanwhile also led to food-inflation increasing in Apr’19. Similar to headline inflation, urban inflation levels also continued to trend upwards with CCPI rising to 4.5% Y-o-Y in Apr’19 compared to a low of 2.8% Y-o-Y in Dec’18 (lowest since Mar’16).

Meanwhile, NCPI Core inflation, which reflects the underlying inflation in the economy, also increased in line with headline inflation to 1.9% Y-o-Y in Apr’19 from 1.7% Y-o-Y in Mar’19.

The CBSL, in its second monetary policy review, stated that inflation is expected to remain in mid-single digit levels of 4-6% in 2019 despite the recent uptick in inflation.

Reinforcing the CBSL’s expectations, the IMF stated last week that inflation would rise to 4.5% by end-2019 as economic activity recovers and food prices stabilize following weather-related supply disruptions in 2018. In Apr’19, the Government decided to keep fuel prices stable by halting the fuel pricing formula for the traditional New Year despite rising global fuel prices.

An upward price revision to local fuel prices in May’19 to reflect higher global oil prices is therefore likely to exert some pressure on inflation levels this month.

However, global oil prices headed toward ~$69/bbl this week representing a 7.5% M-o-M drop from a YTD high of $74.6/bbl last month due to rising stock piles and concerns over an economic slowdown amid fears of an intensifying US-China trade war.

Colombo based architectural and interior design practice KWA Architects won three awards at the Asia Pacific Property Awards held recently in Bangkok, Thailand.

It won Five Star Best Architecture Single Residence- Sri Lanka for their Floated House project and Interior Design awards for Retail Architecture-Sri Lanka for Thilakawardhana Textiles showroom in Kandy and Office Interior- Sri Lanka award for Amazon Teas corporate offices.

Partner KWA Architects Thilan Koththigoda received the awards in Bangkok.

Stuart Shield, President and Founder of the International Property Awards made the presentation. Speaking after the event Thilan Koththigoda said “We are absolutely delighted to receive this wonderful international recognition for our work and this is a true testimony to our team’s dedication to perfection of design solutions to suit our client’s needs.”

Floated House is a luxury residence built on a sloping land overlooking fascinating mountain views of Kandy. The living and dining space of the house is projected outwards from the sloped land and supported with a single column from bottom giving it the sensation of floating above the landscape.

Thilakawardhana Textiles is one of the most celebrated Sri Lankan fashion brands and their Kandy Department Store was designed to offer a novel retail experience to Kandyan shoppers. The design of the outlet was inspired by Kandyan period arts and crafts and the ‘Binara Flower’ motif from that period has been used as a design feature throughout the interior.

Amazon Teas is the owner of celebrated boutique tea brand ‘The English Tea Shop’ sold in many countries globally.

Asia Pacific Property Awards was held for the 26th year this time. Organised by the International Property Awards based in the UK, the panel of judges include many celebrated architects, designers, journalists and industry professionals mostly from UK and the EU.

KWA Architects is an all service architectural, interior design and engineering consultancy firm now in its eleventh year in business. Their current projects include one of Sri Lanka’s largest high rise mixed use development Colombo City Centre, largest banqueting and wedding reception hall complex in Kotte, high rise apartment developments in Negombo and other Colombo Suburbs in addition to several high specification residential and interior design projects.

Unilever’s Global CEO Alan Jope arrived in Sri Lanka on an official visit recently to review Unilever Sri Lanka’s operations and engage with employees of the organisation. Joining him was Sanjiv Mehta – Executive Vice President South Asia and CEO/MD of Hindustan Unilever Limited. The visit comes at a crucial time for the country as a sign of Unilever’s solidarity with Sri Lanka in light of recent events.

Unilever Sri Lanka continues to be an important market for Unilever globally as the South Asian cluster is a key growth driver for the Unilever business. Having celebrated its 80th year of operation in the country last year, Unilever Sri Lanka has added vitality to the lives of Sri Lankans for generations and the bond the organisation has formed with local consumers is the strongest it has ever been.

Speaking about his visit to Sri Lanka, Alan Jope commended the resilience of the Sri Lankan people and their unique ability to bounce back from adversity. He further empathised with the people of Sri Lanka in this time of grief and pledged the organization’s support to help with efforts on rebuilding.

Unilever Sri Lanka Chairman Carl Cruz commenting on this visit said, “We are heartened that our Global CEO Alan Jope chose to visit Sri Lanka at this time and appreciate the solidarity and support given to our nation during this period of strife. As a responsible corporate that cares deeply for the people of Sri Lanka we will do our utmost to help those affected to recover and rebuild their lives.”

As part of his visit Jope also pledged a sum of Rs. 25 million towards rebuilding and rehabilitation efforts in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka Export Development Board has organized the Sri Lanka Pavilion at the Transport and Logistics fair in Munich from 4 to 7 June 2019 to showcase Sri Lanka’s expertise in efficient cargo handling and its further potential as a logistics hub.

The Port of Colombo (PoC), listed by Alphaliner as the fastest growing port among the top 30 container ports in the world, comprises of three world class terminal operators.

The Jaya Container Terminal (JCT) owned by the Sri Lanka Ports Authority, South Asia Gateway Terminals (SAGT), Sri Lanka’s first public private partnership port infrastructure project led by a consortium comprising of the John Keells Group in Sri Lanka, the AP Moller Maersk Group of Denmark and Evergreen Marine Corporation of Taiwan; and Colombo International Container Terminals (CICT), the region’s first and to date, only deep-water container terminal equipped to handle Ultra Large Container Vessels, which is also a public private partnership owned by the China Merchant Port Holdings Group; will all be present and showcasing the Port of Colombo at the fair.

The port collectively presents unique value propositions with the three terminal operators repeatedly recognized for productivity, environmental and operational benchmark performance through multiple global awards. Through CICT, the port offers the only deep draft facility in the South Asia region. The Sri Lanka Port Authority as the owner and regulator of the Port of Colombo will further develop infrastructure and smart port IT applications with close to 10 million TEU terminal capacity in the pipeline.

In addition, the Sri Lankan delegation comprises of logistics service providers such as Hayleys Advantis, MAC Holdings, Abans Logistics and IT solutions providers for logistics such as Geoid Information Technologies, Kingslake and EC Holdings.

Hayleys Advantis, is the holding company of the transportation and logistics interests of Hayleys Group, Sri Lanka’s number 1 listed corporate. Counting over 60 years of expertise in the transportation and logistics industry, Hayleys Advantis offers freight, shipping, 3PL, warehousing, inland container depot services, project logistics, free zone logistics, distribution management, marine and ship operations, with its operations spread across Asia and the Middle East.

Abans Logistics (Pvt) Ltd is a member of Abans Group which is a Sri Lanka based conglomerate with diverse business interest. Their services range from Freight Forwarding, Yard Operations (CFS), Warehousing, Outsourcing (3PL and 4PL) to transport and distribution.

MAC Holdings Private Limited is headquartered in Sri Lanka with regional presence and over 150 years of history.

Kingslake provides smart, intelligent, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions that help organizations track, transport, ship and manage inventory. Kingslake’s smart transportation solution handles the secure transportation of people and goods. The Smart algorithms built in can predict exactly how organizations need to pack boxes for maximum space efficiency per container load.

Geoid Information Technologies is an ISO certified cloud-based transportation management solutions provider, formed by a group of professionals with more than 8 years of experience in the industry. Pioneering the field of telematics in Sri Lanka with research and development, customized solutions to match the requirements from SME to multinational companies, and knowledge sharing with the community.

E.C Holdings is a Software & Web Development company that works with Travel & Tourism Development for the last 10 years and specialized in Travel based Solutions.

Despite the recent setback where Sri Lanka became the latest unfortunate victim of global terrorism, the country remains on a strong, positive growth trajectory; a developing nation with great potential for continued investment and development as a powerhouse in maritime and logistics infrastructure and services, linking the region with the Far East, Africa, Europe and North America.

 Several Sri Lankan companies from Sri Lanka would be participating at the Automechanika Dubai 2019, from June 10 to 12 in Dubai, UAE.

Automechanika Dubai is Middle East’s leading international trade fair for the automotive service industry, targeting trade visitors from Western Asia, Eastern Europe, the CIS and Africa.

Automechanika Dubai 2018, set a unique record by attracting 1,801 exhibitors from 61 countries and around 31,971 visitors from 146 countries. There were also 23 official country pavilions at Automechanika Dubai 2018.

Associated CEAT and Global Rubber Industries would be directory participating for the Automechanika Dubai 2019 Sri Lanka, while several other local companies would be represented through agents.

The event is organized by Automechanika Dubai in partnership with REIFEN, the world renowned trade fair organiser for the tyre industry.

The event would help raise the profile of participating companies and would also set up meetings with trade buyers, manufacture leading to greater opportunities for businesses to connect with their target audience.

Sri Lanka has submitted the final papers to the EU, signed by both the government of Indonesia and the government of Sri Lanka to buy fabric from Indonesia.

This is to secure a complete duty waiver exporting to the European Union (EU) under the GSP + concessions.

The EU has virtually accepted the submission and the Sri Lankan government is waiting for the EU approval to go ahead with this initiative, Nimal Karunathilake- Acting Additional Director General of the Department of Commerce said.

In addition, Sri Lanka has come to final stage of making a joint submission to the EU, signed by the South Korean government and the Sri Lanka government to purchase fabric from Korea.

“Sri Lanka mainly imports fabric from China even though China is not a beneficiary of GSP+ concessions. Now, we’re trying to include both Korea and Indonesia. The work is still going on. The only thing is that it might take few more months and we’re very positive that the EU will grant approval for these two proposals shortly,” Karunathilake told at a seminar held in Colombo last week, under the theme ‘Brexit and its complications to Sri Lanka’.

The event was organized by the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce.

“Despite the fact the Sri Lankan apparel manufactures continue to purchase fabric at a cheaper price from China, China doesn’t have trade relation for duty concessions with the EU. For this reason, Sri Lanka is unable to fully utilize the full capacity of GSP+ concessions.” Karunathilake said.

Noting that the GSP+ utilization rate is relatively low, which is at 55 per cent, he added that country cannot just depend on the EU, the UK or the USA markets for exports. According to him, industries in China and India will play a major role in the global trade in the years to come. By 2030, China will overcome the USA as the largest economy in the world.

He said therefore Sri Lanka needs to look at these aspects and see whether the country could sign an FTA with China in the near future.

A disorderly Brexit could roil global financial markets, worsen uncertainty and raise risk aversion which could affect developing Asia more broadly, said Utsav Kumar- Senior Country Economist at Asian Development Bank.

Noting that the confidence effects can also be significant due to Brexit, he said that Brexit impact on world GDP via trade and production linkages would be small; but the UK and the EU would be affected the most.

He made these comments speaking at a seminar organized by the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce and held under the theme, ‘Brexit and its Implications to Sri Lanka’ in Colombo last week.

He said further that the impact of Brexit through trade and production channels are small even for Sri Lanka. However he emphasised that some sectors will be affected more.Noting that non tariff measures are more worrisome, he said new set of rules could impede flow of trade between the UK and other trading partners.

Dr. Ganesh Wignaraja, Executive Director of the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute delivering the keynote speech at the seminar stated that the EU is the world’s largest trading bloc and Brexit will be a significant change in the status quo, amidst a messy and unpredictable environment as the outcome of the Brexit vote is still unclear.

Speaking on some strategic implications for Sri Lanka, he said that on the trade front, Sri Lanka will have to work in a much smarter way to conduct export promotional activities targeting other EU markets especially France and Germany while making efforts to invest in upgrading to The European Union Social Protection Systems Programme (EU- SPS ), Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) and ethical standards.

‘Furthermore, Sri Lanka should adhere to GSP + conditionality, he said adding that Sri Lankan businesses should make efforts to fully utilise the EU Generalised Scheme of Preferences to better garner more opportunities.

“Furthermore, we should also be very conversant with our ethical standards, especially in the areas of human rights, labour rights and transitional justice. We will have to look at those issues seriously as part of our governance and nation building agenda.” he said.

On the FDI front, he stressed that Sri Lanka needs to engage with UK and the EU investors to further increase FDI in Sri Lanka and to attract the EU FDI into long-term infrastructure under the auspices of 2018 EU Master Plan.

“The EU master plan is still on the drawing board. But it is going to be true very soon. Hence, we need to carefully watch that space in order to seize any imminent opportunities.” he said.

In addition, measures should be taken to attract UK FDI in financial, legal and creative services to the Port City, he noted.

“Port City is a 15 year project. We need to have diversified sources of FDIs for Sri Lanka and we should not purely depend on FDIs from China. We need to ensure that Chinese state owned agencies or private sector companies don’t make this a ‘Mini China’. Therefore, we need to make sure that the Port City project is open to other countries in the rest of the world.

The John Keells Group’s revenue increased by 12% to Rs.135.46 billion while recurring Group earnings before interest expense, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) decreased by 11% to Rs.25.67 billion, for the financial year 2018/19.

Company’s Chairman, Krishan Balendra said in his review, “The decline in recurring EBITDA was on account of the performance of the leisure, financial services, property and retail industry groups, where we witnessed some one-off impacts in addition to the downturn in the performance of the City Hotels sector due to a significant increase in the room supply within a short period of time.”

The recurring Group profit before tax (PBT) decreased by 24 % to Rs.18.40 billion for the financial year ended March 31, 2019.

South Asia Gateway Terminals (SAGT), the Group’s Ports and Shipping business, maintained its growth momentum with a volume growth of 11%.

The Frozen Confectionery business recorded a volume growth of 10 per cent, despite difficult market conditions, driven by the Impulse segment and the expansion of its product portfolio, post the commissioning of the new factory.

The City Hotels sector maintained its fair share in the five-star hotel category despite a sharp increase in room supply and political volatility during the latter part of 2018.

The newly reconstructed “Cinnamon Hakuraa Huraa Maldives” and “Cinnamon Bentota Beach” will commence operations in December 2019. The “Tri-Zen” residential development project is witnessing strong momentum in sales with 200 units sold. Financial Services was impacted by mark-to-market losses at Union Assurance PLC (UA) due to a decline in the stock market. UA’s profits in 2017/18 included a one-off surplus of Rs.3.38 billion.

Nations Trust Bank (NTB) recorded a double- digit growth in both deposits and advances, although profitability was impacted by introduction of the Debt Repayment Levy and higher impairment charges.

 This was due to the elevated credit risk stemming from subdued economic performance and the implementation of SLFRS 9.

As announced to the Colombo Stock Exchange, the repurchase offer for 69,376,433 ordinary shares, (being 5 per cent of its issued shares) concluded in January 2019, with acceptance of 46 per cent of the offer (32,189,118 ordinary shares) and the balance (37,187,315 ordinary shares) being accepted proportionately based on applications for additional shares to be repurchased. Accordingly, a total amounting to Rs.11.10 billion was paid out on 25 January 2019.

The company declared a third and final dividend of Rs.1 per share to be paid on June 14, 2019.

The total dividend payout for 2018/19 including the share repurchase amounted to Rs.17.83 billion.

Recent extension of the IMF agreement until June 2020 would help boost investor confidence. The IMF agreement was earlier temporally halted amid the political crisis that commenced on October 26, 2018, First Capital Research said in its ‘First Capital Fixed Income Report (FC FI)’ released yesterday.

In their last FC FI Recommendation Report on May 16, the company recommended to significantly cut portfolio exposure to 40 from 70 amid the fall in yields well below its yield curve bands.

“We expected Sri Lanka’s foreign reserve to drop to USD 6 .7 billion after repaying USD 500 million sovereign bond maturity and USD 250 million project loan payments in April 2019. Surprisingly foreign reserves had dropped only by USD 417 million to USD 7.2 billion in April 2019 from USD 7. 6 billion in March, suggesting additional inflows into reserves.

Further the net surplus liquidity in the system (including term repo) is likely to be sustainable with the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) discontinuing reverse repo and also gradually reducing CBSL Holdings on Government Securities.

CBSL has already secured 65 of the total USD commitment for this year through issuance of USD 2.4 billion sovereign and USD 344 million SLDB. We expect balance commitments to be met via USD 1 billion Sovereign Bond backed by the World Bank (Policy Based Guarantee with a longer term repayment of over five to ten years and Samurai Bonds from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation, Panda Debt and term loan as indicated by the CBSL Governor.

These potential facilities are expected to maintain reserves above USD 7 billion during June to December 2019. Sri Lanka’s next large local SLDB repayment is due in March 2020 and international sovereign repayment in October 2020.

Reduction in yield curve bands improved indicators in the First Capital Economic Health Score suggest a lower risk profile as Sri Lanka returns to the situation prior to October 2018 in terms of economic health, justifying a lower yield expectation in the bond market similar to the same period.

Thereby, the company said they reduce its yield curve band expectations across the yield curve by 50 bps.

The Exporters’ Association of Sri Lanka (EASL), at its committee meeting held recently, deliberated on the best course of action that both the government and the private sector could take to restore, rebuild, and recover from the impacts of the Easter Sunday terror attacks.

Acknowledging the colossal impact the attacks have had on human life, livelihoods, and the economy, the EASL is committed to do their part to help Sri Lanka recover.With this in mind, the EASL unanimously agreed to encourage its members to maximize their exports, mainly in the industrial sector; and in sectors such as the fruits, vegetables, and seafood where there could be a surplus of produce due to the drop in tourism.

Towards this end, the committee felt that a tax incentive such as one based on incremental sales over the previous year would help in galvanizing the export sector towards helping in greater foreign exchange inflows.

The EASL expects to initiate discussions in this regard with the Government shortly.

Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) has decided to remove the minimum room rate (MRR) effective immediately imposed on Colombo City Hotels due to the low tourism arrivals following Easter Sunday Attacks.

Furthermore, SLTDA is in the opinion that it is better for the market forces to decide the room rates rather than SLTDA dictating terms due to the prevailing situation.

Last week, the travel ban on visiting Sri Lanka imposed by China was lifted to ‘cautious when traveling’ to Sri Lanka and the authority is confident that the travel advisories will be lifted in the next couple of weeks as they have been working closely with many diplomatic missions since the incident.

“Sunshine Holdings’ divestiture of the majority control of Hatton Plantations PLC, to Lotus Renewable Energy (Pvt) Ltd, is in line with the Group’s strategy of taking a significant step in refocusing our footprint in healthcare and consumer segments for strategic specialization, especially in the branded tea segment where we will continue to invest significantly in our brands, ‘Watawala Tea’, ‘Zesta’ and ‘Ran Kahata’.

This was said by

This statement was made by Sunshine Holdings PLC’s Group Managing Director, Vish Govindasamy commenting on the Company’s announcement regarding the divestiture of Hatton Plantations PLC from Sunshine Holdings Group.

Lotus Renewable Energy Group (LREG), a multinational renewable energy company with its operations across India, Singapore and Australia, have over two decades of experience in managing several plantation estates in Sri Lanka. Hence we made sure our divestiture will be to an experienced business entity, and we are confident they will continue to develop the plantations as we have done.

“Sunshine Group will continue to work hard in expanding their businesses while maintaining a reliable and responsible diversified business conglomerate.”

Leo Burnett Sri Lanka together with Leo Burnett Toronto recently, won several awards at the prestigious Art Director’s Club (ADC) Annual Awards programs. The agencies secured a Silver, Bronze and three Merits for their iconic ‘Petal Paint’ campaign for JAT Holdings. The 98th edition of the ADC awards took place in New York this May and is hailed as the longest running awards program in the global advertising industry.

Leo Burnett Sri Lanka and Toronto, secured a Silver Cube in the Advertising-Innovation – Direct category and a Bronze Cube in the Product Design, Sustainable/Eco-friendly – Single or Series category. The agencies also scooped up three Merits in the categories of Photography, Sustainable/Eco-Friendly – Single or Series and Product Design, Design for Good – Product Design Series.

Leo Burnett’s Petal Paint campaign for local conglomerate, JAT Holdings, is an initiative that pays homage to Sri Lanka’s rich heritage of sacred temple art, which could be seen in the form of captivating wall murals in shine rooms across the country. In Buddhism, flowers signify the impermanence of life and their highest purpose is to become an alter offering. However, due to the high volume of worshipers, hundreds of thousands of flowers are discarded each day at many temple sites. The campaign involved giving those flowers a new purpose, putting them through an innovative drying process and extracting pigments from them to create a range of Petal Paints. The paints were then used to restore and create temple art, giving this sacred offering of flowers new life and meaning.

Commenting on the initiative, Arosha Perera, CEO of Leo Burnett Sri Lanka said: “The Petal Paint Campaign enabled us to use creativity to take temple flowers beyond the confines of a traditional offering and give them a second life whilst contributing to Sri Lanka’s rich cultural, historical and religious heritage. This initiative has garnered worldwide recognition and we are honoured that we were able to secure 2 awards and 3 merits at the prestigious ADC Awards as well. We are thankful that our client JAT Holdings trusted us to bring this idea to life and we are humbled by how well it has been received both locally and across the world. We will continue to explore innovative ideas of this nature to help our valued clients achieve their business and communication goals by unleashing the power of creativity and its ability to inspire change.”

Also commenting on the project Aelian Gunawardene, Managing Director of JAT Holdings said: “This ground-breaking campaign that was conceptualized and executed by Leo Burnett Sri Lanka, in collaboration with Leo Burnett Toronto, epitomizes our vision to be an industry leader that is committed to innovation and new thinking.

The Petal Paint campaign has enabled us to cut through the noise of a crowded marketplace and convey the essence of our brand, using local traditions and beliefs.

This campaign really does reiterate how well thought out creative ideas could be timeless, engaging and impactful. I’d like to extend my congratulations to the entire Leo Burnett team for their award wins and their ongoing quest to push boundaries and take Sri Lanka’s communications industry to new heights.”

The ADC Annual Awards program, part of The One Club for Creativity, is the oldest continuously running industry award festivals in the world. These awards celebrate the very best in advertising, digital media, graphic and publication design, packaging and product design, motion, experiential and spatial design, photography, illustration and fashion design all with a focus on artistry and craftsmanship.

As Leo Burnett celebrates its 20th year of operations in Sri Lanka and looks ahead to the future, the agency would continue to help build powerful brands and meaningful partnerships with its clients, while delivering gratifying results and gaining peer recognition in the industry.

The Finance Ministry launched the electronic government procurement system (e-GP). This is a major reform in public finances - improving transparency in procurement, minimizing room for corruption, reducing government costs by up to Rs. 30 billion, significantly increasing efficiency in public processes.

Through the new e-GP system the Treasury could save nearly Rs. 30 billion, while improving the public financial management to a greater extent, according to official sources.

The Minister of Finance had received the approval of the Cabinet of Ministers to introduce an electronic Government Procurement System, which was launched yesterday, to address the existing shortcomings and to facilitate fast tracking procurement decisions. Speaking at the event, Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera said, it is an important benchmark in realizing more transparency and efficiency in public services.

Sri Lanka received the South Asian Innovative Procurement Award at the fifth South Asian Public Procurement Conference in New Delhi last year.

“Today in advancing our efforts to transform the traditional manual procurement process into a modern system, the Finance Ministry places Sri Lanka on par with very advanced nations that include Singapore, European Union and Canada. Sri Lanka, being a States Party to the United Nations Convention against Corruption, has the international obligations to improve our public procurement processes.”

Article 9 of the Corruption Convention refers to public procurement and management of public finances, whereby the State Parties are requested to take the necessary steps to establish appropriate systems of procurement, based on transparency, competition and objective criteria in decision-making, that are effective in preventing corruption. The minister said, “We, as a country, annually spend around a quarter of our government expenditure on public procurement, which amounts to nearly 15% of the GDP. Considering the magnitude of that total annual expenditure, it needs closer attention and scrutiny from all the stakeholders in the public management systems. Also procurement plays a strategic function.”

Corruption, misappropriation and mismanagement of public assets must be tackled with a policy of zero tolerance, which from my point of view, remain difficult in our part of the world because of systemic weaknesses. In Sri Lanka, the decisions of implementing many important projects are lagging behind because of the manual system that links to the decades old complicated governance mechanisms. Now in the first quarter of the 21st Century, Sri Lanka as a modern nation, must look forward to utilize new technologies to make our decisions faster, transparent and more accountable,” Samaraweera added.

With the launching of the web portal by the Finance Minister to facilitate the e-procurement system for procurement of all the goods, services and works in the public sector the most transformational change in the Sri Lankan, public procurement domain has been established.

The Department of Public Finance of the Finance Ministry took measures to develop e-GP system with the technical assistance of the Theekshana R & D, University of Colombo - in complying with the recommendations and guidance of the Working Group appointed by the Cabinet of Ministers, following the 4th South Asia Region (SAR) Procurement Conference on the Theme “e-GP in South Asia”, opened by the President in 2017 in Sri Lanka. Cabinet approval was granted on the Cabinet Memo presented by Minister of Finance, Mangala Samaraweera.

Director General of the Public Finance Department, P. Algama said, in future, it will be made compulsory that the procurements notices of goods, services and works of government institutions be published on this website. “The government and private sector suppliers will be able to register in this website and make their responses conveniently to the respective procurement demands spell out in the procurement notices published in this webportal by the public institutions. This will expand the transparency, quality, account ability and efficiency of the government procurement process leaving no room to defects, malpractices and corruptions,” he added.

All the government institutions are capable of using this e-procurement systems by registering under this website operated by the Public Finance Department of the Ministry of Finance and, a user name and a password should be obtained for this purpose. Government and private sector institutions who desire to supply goods, services and works to the government institutions shall also be registered in the similar way which would make the procurement process efficient eliminating inherited delays in the process.

Algama said, approximately abou Rs. 750 billion (20-25%) out of the total government budget of Rs. 3,000 billion is expensed through the procurement process. Implementation of this e-procurement system will prevent corruptions, malpractices and the delays in the procurement process. The method of publishing procurement notices in newspapers could be avoided under this system.