US$1 bn cost for organic fertiliser transformation
Sri Lanka’s transformation to organic fertiliser from chemical fertiliser would cost the country more than US$1 billion from the import of organic fertiliser, spare parts to manufacture machinery to produce manure locally and owing to the loss of export crop production, draining the country’s already-precarious foreign reserves. Currently chemical fertiliser imports cost $400million annually but [...]
LAUGFS, Litro to jointly use Hambantota storage terminal
The government is now considering the feasibility of maintaining a stable price for Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) by allowing a public and private partnership (PPP) to maintain LAUFGS terminal jointly between LAUGFS Gas and state-owned Litro Gas for storage with the aim of reducing costs. LAUGFS Holdings Ltd Chairman W.K.H Wegapitiya told the Business Times [...]
Apparel industry income to drop by 20% this year
The recent spike in COVID-19 cases at the apparel factories has resulted in an increase in testing in all zones with numbers reporting to work having seen a sharp drop. FTZ Manufacturers Association General Secretary Dhammika Fernando told the Business Times that the attendance has been markedly reduced due to the restrictions on travel. At [...]
Postal services come to a near standstill
Sri Lanka postal services during the pandemic, has come to a near standstill although post offices and sub-post offices countrywide have been reopened for limited services including elders’ payments, and distribution of medicines, officials said. This has resulted in a loss of income of between Rs. 1 to 2 billion for the year ending March [...]
Fair bit of foreign buying from non-resident Sri Lankans
As far back as one would recall, the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) has had a net foreign outflow. While foreign investors are cashing out, non-resident Sri Lankans keep on buying, albeit in small quantities. For a Rs. 3 billion a day turnover, their contribution is a mere 2 per cent but stockbrokers said that ‘something [...]
LOLC global expansion strategy eyes former Soviet states
With the South Asian, and African markets under its belt, the LOLC Group – Sri Lanka’s most profitable conglomerate – has set its sights on investments in the former Soviet states, officials said. “We are exploring opportunities in the financial space in countries like Uzbekistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan etc.,” an official [...]
Tourism impact: Xpress Pearl pollutes shoreline
The hotel industry is unlikely to suffer crucial damages to its coastal belt as authorities have ensured that the beaches were cleaned up following the MV Xpress Pearl vessel catastrophe off the Colombo Harbour. Jetwing Symphony Hotels Chairman Hiran Cooray told the Business Times that they have spoken to their managers in their Negombo hotels [...]
Land Prices in Western Province rise by 74% in 2018-2021
In the Western Province (except Colombo Municipality area) the overall land price values have increased by 74 percent from 2018 to 2021, according to the annual Land Price Index released by LankaPropertyWeb. The company also revealed, in a media release, that, on an annual basis, the increase in average land prices between 2018 and 2021 [...]
BPPL Group urges Sri Lankans to dispose plastic waste responsibly
BPPL Holdings PLC and its subsidiary Eco Spindles, Sri Lanka’s largest plastic recycler, has urged people to responsibly dispose plastic waste across the island this week and on World Environment Day which was marked yesterday (Saturday). This year’s theme, “Ecosystem Restoration” focused on implementing a solution to a depleting ecosystem, an urgent issue faced in [...]
Uber offers 50,000 free rides to Red Cross Society as COVID support
Uber has offered 50,000 free rides to the Sri Lanka Red Cross Society for transporting frontline healthcare workers, elderly and citizens from vulnerable communities to vaccination hubs in support of the government’s drive to inoculate the nation. Uber’s free rides will also be deployed to transport frontline healthcare workers to multiple hospitals, including the National [...]
ComBank sponsored ‘Hack:bit 2020’ a spectacular success
Six teams of students from local schools and universities have been recognised for demonstrating their coding skills by developing innovative and useful applications, and have won a fully-equipped IT Lab, laptops, electronic devices, microcontroller kits, and other equipment from the Commercial Bank of Ceylon. The talent search was launched in the form of ‘Hack:bit 2020,’ [...]
LOLC Group shows dynamic growth with first-ever historic profitability in Sri Lanka’s corporate sector
Sri Lanka’s most valuable and globally diversified financial conglomerate, the LOLC Group, has posted a record-breaking performance for the financial year ending March 2021, achieving unprecedented bottom line results of Rs. 57 billion in Profit Before Tax (PBT), and a Profit After Tax (PAT) of Rs. 53 billion – a first for any corporate in [...]
Hela Clothing’s sustainability recognised with “Most Sustainable Factory” award by Asda’s George
Sri Lanka’s Hela Clothing, a global apparel manufacturer with factories across Kenya, Ethiopia and Sri Lanka, was recognised for its continued commitment to sustainability as it was recently presented with ‘The Most Sustainable Factory’ award at the first-ever Global Sustainability Conference organised by George, the private label clothing brand for Asda in the UK and [...]
WSO2 hosts webinar on modern customer identity and access management
WSO2, a Colombo-based global leader in digital transformation technology, is to host a roundtable webinar on the current state of customer identity and access management (CIAM) applications, existing challenges, and innovative solutions to overcome them. The virtual roundtable will take place on June 17, 2021, at 10:30 AM IST / 01:00 PM SGT. It will [...]
Dilmah Ecovation Awards 2021 open for this year
In the backdrop of COVID-19 and the race towards limiting global warming to 1.5-degree Celsius, the world needs sustainable ideas and inventions to solve its looming problems. In this context, Dilmah has brought back Ecovation awards for its second run. Themed “Sustainable Environmentally-friendly Packaging and Resource Efficiency”, Ecovation 2021 focuses on generating solutions for sustainable [...]
Jetwing Hotels wins 2021 Tripadvisor Travellers’ Choice Awards for 20 resorts/villas
Jetwing Hotels announced it has been recognised as a 2021 Travellers’ Choice award winner for 20 of its hotels and villas across its brand, winning the highest number of awards in Sri Lanka. Jetwing Beach, Jetwing Blue, Jetwing Colombo Seven, Jetwing Jaffna, Jetwing Kaduruketha, Jetwing Lagoon, Jetwing Lake, Jetwing Lighthouse, Jetwing Sea, Jetwing St. Andrew’s, [...]
Healthcare and Consumer propel Sunshine Holdings’ strong FY21 performance
Diversified Sri Lankan conglomerate Sunshine Holdings has recorded resilient revenue and profit growth in a pandemic-affected macroeconomic environment, reporting notable top-line and bottom-line performances growth during the year ended 31 March 2021 (FY20/21). The group’s Healthcare and Consumer sectors led growth while the healthcare segment remained the major contributor to total group revenue in FY21, [...]
NDB introduces Digital Account Opening for its customers
National Development Bank PLC will become the first company in Sri Lanka to commence development of a Video Know-your-customer (vKYC) as a part of the significant strides the bank has made in Sri Lanka’s fast evolving digital landscape, it said in a media release this week. The bank appointed international enterprise software solutions partner specialising [...]